Happily Ever After
by thomthom830
Summary: Bruce & Selina defeated the Joker, but can they survive marriage? And who is this mysterious woman that has captured Alfred's heart? Sequel to Blood.Sweat.Tears. Disclaimer: I own nothing but the enjoyment of writing these people. Read and Review! Chapters 4 & 8 are rated M...you're warned.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome back! This is my sequel to .Tears with Selina and Bruce. I just couldn't help myself. I like the pairing too much. Read on!

Happily Ever After

.ONE.

"Turn left at via Esperanza," Selina said as she read the tablet computer in front of her.

"I could make a u-turn and we could go back home," Bruce replied dryly from behind his sunglasses. "I'll cook," he offered.

"We _have_ to go," Selina smiled. "They are expecting us."

"We could go home and have a perfectly fine dinner alone," he replied. "And Alfred would understand. We could say that you're sick or something."

"Alfred doesn't believe your lies, Bruce. He knows you too well. It's going to be a pleasant evening. You can break your rule and have several glasses of wine and then we can go home."

Bruce let out a frustrated sigh.

"It's for Alfred," she reminded him. "You care about Alfred and his happiness. He finally wants you to meet her. He wants your approval."

"Alfred _definitely_ doesn't need my approval to date someone," Bruce replied.

It was Selina's turn to let out a sigh. She was starting to get frustrated with her husband.

"Okay, I'll make a deal with you," Selina said. "And remember, I don't bargain often. If you play nice and are pleasant to be around tonight, I'll make you a _very_ happy man later."

Bruce's lips formed into a smile underneath his very expensive Italian sunglasses, but he kept his face turned toward the road.

"You always make me happy," Bruce pointed out.

"Stock bullshit husband response," Selina said in a matter-of-fact way. "You take that deal or I tell Alfred that you were stalking him."

"I was not _stalking_ him! He was smiling all the time, forgetting things and going places without telling us…by the way, thanks for not asking him where he was going," Bruce added sarcastically.

Selina rolled her eyes. "He's a grown man and can do what he wants, Bruce darling," Selina replied just as sarcastically. "I love you, but you have got to quit the detective work and find another hobby."

"I thought he had some kind of medical condition, Selina. How was I supposed to know he'd fallen in love?" Bruce asked.

Spotting the street he was looking for, Bruce made his left hand turn, narrowly missing the corner of the building with his wide turn.

Selina shot him a dirty look. "I'd like to keep both mirrors on my car, please and thank you."

"Sorry," he said curtly. "Narrow streets," he offered as an excuse.

"Bad turns," she shot back.

"Where is this house?" he asked, ignoring her last comment.

"Alfred said its traditional Tuscan style. And it should be the last one on the left," she said, turning off the tablet in her lap.

Despite the difficulty of getting Bruce to get himself cleaned up and dressed, the ride out to Alfred's _female friend's_ house was not unpleasant. It was about a forty-five minute drive from their home, back towards Florence.

"Sofia sounds like a perfectly lovely woman," Selina offered. "She is doing wonders with Alfred's generally stuffy manners."

If she was correct, and Selina frequently was, Bruce was pouting in the driver's seat.

"Oh, come on. You should be happy that Alfred finally found someone, Bruce. Did you really want him to be alone forever?"

"Of course not!" Bruce said back, offended at the accusation. "And he's not alone, he does have us."

Selina looked at him through her long eyelashes. "Well, get over your jealousy, be a grown up and be happy for Alfred. He said she's smart and beautiful and kind…need I go on?"

Bruce shook his head. "No. Please don't."

It had been about two months since Alfred Pennyworth had moved in with Bruce and Selina. He was there mostly to help take care of the house while Selina and Bruce were incapacitated with injuries and unable to do things themselves. But as soon as Selina was starting to get her shoulder back in working order and taking over the household duties, Alfred started enjoying Italy again. He knew Bruce and Selina were safe, so he felt like he could relax, too.

Alfred had been mysteriously going out on his own, almost every day, for a month easily. He wasn't saying where he was going and no one was brave enough to ask him. About a week into it, Bruce thought it terribly suspicious and stuck a GPS tracker on the older gentleman without the man's knowledge or permission. When Selina found out, she wasn't pleased with him in the slightest, but her curiosity won out. She wanted to know what Alfred was up to almost as much as Bruce did.

Imagine their surprise when one day they followed him and found Alfred enjoying a lunch with a terribly beautiful woman.

They made sure they weren't seen and then got the hell out of there before Selina's terribly loud giggles gave them away.

A week ago, Alfred started staying out with this woman at her home. She must be damn special if Alfred was attracted to her.

Bruce pulled to a stop outside what must have been _the_ house.

"This must be it," he announced.

The greatest detective in the world found Alfred's car in the driveway.

"I'm glad you could reason that one out, Mr. Wayne."

"Next time you can drive, Mrs. Wayne," he growled at her.

"Why are you so against a simple lunch with Alfred and his…um…lady friend?" Selina asked. "It isn't going to be any more uncomfortable than when the poor man walked in on us having sex in the kitchen."

That made Bruce smile, despite the current situation.

"Just smile and be happy, honey," Selina cooed in his ear sweetly. "It's going to be fine. I promise. And don't forget, Alfred said that he told them your last name was Kyle."

He nodded to indicate that he remembered. He'd laughed harder than he had in years at that particular conversation. The only thing that had stopped him was the jarring blow that Selina administered to his diaphragm with her elbow. She knew exactly how hard she could hit him without him ending up in too much pain and she frequently used that knowledge to her advantage. And while he struggled to catch his breath, he found that it wasn't all that funny anymore.

Bruce took the key out of the ignition and sat back in the seat while Selina opened her car door. Alfred emerged from the house and greeted the both of them with a smile as he walked toward them and their car.

"I'm happy to see that you were able to find the house," Alfred said, greeting Selina warmly with a kiss to both cheeks. "How was the drive?"

Selina looked back at the car and back to Alfred. "It was very pleasant," she half-lied. It was only the last ten minutes of the ride that weren't fun.

Bruce still hadn't exited the car.

Selina kept smiling, even though she was getting terribly angry at Bruce.

"We brought you this," Selina offered the pie in her hand. "I made it myself. I hope you like blueberry."

"I love blueberry," Alfred smiled, inspecting the pan in her hand. "I'm happy to see that this life is agreeing with you, Mrs. Way-Kyle," he said before turning his attention to the absence of Bruce. "Is he going to get out of the car?" Alfred asked.

Selina nodded. "His knee has been giving him trouble the last couple of days. You go ahead inside and I'll get my husband. I can't wait to meet Sofia. She has to be truly special to have caught your eye, Alfred."

The older gentleman blushed from the roots of his white hair to the starched white collar of his shirt, but smiled anyway.

"Well, lunch is almost ready, we're just waiting on the pasta to finish," Alfred said. "Tell him to quit acting like a petulant child and come inside," he told her, not believing her lie for one second.

Selina smiled. "I will," she said. "Just give me two minutes."

Alfred turned on his heel in the gravel driveway and walked back into the house with the blueberry pie in his hand.

Selina faced the car and stomped in her heels on the gravel all the way to the driver's side door. She wrenched it open before Bruce could lock it.

"You get out of that car this instant and you plaster a smile on your face. You are breaking that man's heart," Selina said.

Bruce sighed.

"You're Batman. You've done a million things more difficult than this," she continued. "So come eat some lunch and share some conversation with your wife and the man who spent his _entire life_ taking care of _you._"

Of course Bruce knew he wasn't going to win this one. He had put up enough of a fight to look like an idiot. He unbuckled himself and extended his leg to indicate he was really climbing out.

"Good boy," Selina said sarcastically. "How old are you?" she asked smiling, but she definitely meant it as an insult.

Bruce finished exiting the car, his mouth set in a line.

"What is your problem with this?" she asked.

"I'm just worried about Alfred. In my entire life I've never known him to be romantically interested in anyone," Bruce said.

"Is it possible that he's just as sneaky as you are?" Selina replied.

"No," Bruce replied.

But then she realized something. It hit her like a ton of bricks and made her smile wickedly.

"You're jealous," she said softly as they walked up to the house. Selina latched onto his arm, pulling him close to her. "Bruce," she sing-songed. "Alfred is always going to care about you, love you like a son. But now he has someone else he cares about, I think," Selina said. "And remember, you've always got me to love you."

Bruce halted, pulling Selina back, right before they were at the bottom of the porch stairs.

"Bruce, we have _got_ to go inside," Selina said.

But Bruce pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard.

"I love you," Bruce whispered into her ear. "I'll go quietly now," he smirked.

He took Selina's hand and pulled her towards the front door of the house.

The interior of the house was lushly decorated. Where the exterior of the house looked traditional and older, the rooms were all very modern. Everything was dark wood and glass. There were expensive knick-knacks and paintings in the living room and it seemed each room they were shown had more and more expensive objects occupying it.

Selina's eyes widened as she strolled past an original Van Gogh hanging in a hallway at one end of the house.

"Selina," Bruce hissed as a warning under his breath.

She shook her head. "Old habits die hard."

Sofia, herself, was probably 65 years old, but didn't look a day over 45. She had shiny medium brown hair, cut in a very stylish long bob. It framed her face and her sparkling green eyes. She had a nice figure and a beautiful smile. And Alfred positively lit up every time he glanced in her direction.

"Your home is beautiful," Selina said once they finally sat down to eat their meal.

The dining room they were in looked out the back of the house. The walls were painted a rich barn red and the wood was all dark. The chandelier was antique and probably real gold. Everything combined gave it a medieval feeling; it was just missing a suit of armor in the corner.

There were huge floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto an impeccably manicured lawn and in-ground swimming pool. There was a high fence that surrounded that, effectively carving out an oasis in the middle of the Italian countryside.

"Thank you, Selina," the woman trilled in her Italian-accented voice breaking Selina from her reverie about the home. Her voice was melodic and soft. Sofia was a very charming woman indeed.

The four of them continued to chat amiably over a lunch of pasta with some kind of cream sauce and several different kinds of salad. Wine was poured and Sofia began to tell them about her life.

"I was born in Paris; my parents had taken vacation. But I've lived here in my whole life. This is actually my family home," Sofia said softly, the smile never leaving her lips.

The woman's English was expert and Selina smiled at the way Alfred's hand covered hers as she spoke. Clearly, it was love between the two of them.

An hour later, they had heard Sofia's entire life story. Her parents were almost-gypsies who had given up travelling to become full-fledged farmers. They somehow managed to become skilled and built up a small fortune. She had been the first of her family to attend college. She had started a fashion line straight out of school and was head designer up until five years ago when she retired. Now she serves as CEO.

"Listen to me talk," she almost purred. "I don't know anything about you two. Alfred's told me a little, but how and when did you meet? How long have you been married?"

"We met about a year and a half ago," Selina said, looking to Bruce for agreement. "And we were _business_ contacts at first," she lied.

Bruce smiled and nodded, sliding an arm tighter around her.

"She stole my heart that day," he said.

Bruce's particular words did not escape her.

Sofia put a hand over her heart. "Oh," she said. "That's adorable, but I would have thought you two would have been together longer than that," she said, eyeing Selina's enormous wedding ring set.

"And there was that six month gap when we _broke _up," Bruce said grimly, putting emphasis on an odd word in that sentence. Both Selina and Alfred knew what he was referring to.

"When did you get married?" Sofia asked sincerely.

Bruce did not answer. He waited for Selina.

"Three weeks ago. But it feels like forever," she smiled.

"Three weeks! Newlyweds!" Sofia gushed.

Selina squeezed Bruce's hand and smiled. He finally smiled again.

"It was a small ceremony, but it was wonderful," Selina said, her voice soft and her were words tender.

"Do you have family out here?"

"I don't, no," Bruce said gruffly. "Just Alfred."

"My parents have both passed away; I have a sister, but I haven't seen her in a long time," Selina said.

Bruce looked confused for a second. He didn't know what she was talking about. But before he could question her about it, Sofia chimed in with another question.

"Where did you go for your honeymoon?" Sofia asked.

"We decided that we weren't…" Selina started.

"I was going to surprise Selina, but now might be as good a time as ever. I'm booking a trip to Paris for us," he said.

Selina froze.

"Paris?" she asked.

"You don't want to go to Paris?" Bruce asked.

Selina shook her head. "Of course I want to go to Paris," she said. "I'm just surprised right now."

"What is it that you do, Bruce?" she asked. "Alfie's been vague and if you could afford a ring that size for your wife, it must be something good."

Selina tried to stifle a giggle at Sofia's use of Alfred's nickname. Bruce ignored it.

"He's a retired public defender," Selina answered for him.

Sofia smiled. "A lawyer? I guess I could see that."

Bruce narrowed his eyes.

"What does that mean?" Bruce asked in a minutely argumentative tone.

"You have a…_sneaky…_way of holding yourself, Mr. Kyle. I can usually read people very well and there's something about you that I'm not sure about."

"I get that a lot," Bruce said dryly.

"What do you do, Selina?" Sofia asked. "You said that you two met because you were business contacts."

"Yes," Selina said after swallowing a mouthful of red wine. "I had a kind of consulting business. I do a little bit of everything."

The group of them continued chatting over dessert and before long, they were saying their goodbyes.

Once they were back in their car and on the road, Bruce made an announcement.

"There's something off about her," he said.

"What?" Selina replied. "What are you talking about? Sofia is perfectly lovely."

"She asked too many questions," Bruce said.

"Sofia was just trying to get to know us," Selina said. "Is that a crime?"

"I'm going to run a more in-depth search on her when we get home. I just hope Alfred isn't giving any major secrets away."

Selina shook her head. "He wouldn't do that. He's kept your secrets too long to start throwing them around now. And Alfred would never forgive you for running background checks on his girlfriend," she said.

"I ran them on you and you _married_ me," Bruce said. "By the way, you've failed to mention this sister of yours before."

"She didn't come up in your research?" Selina asked.

"No."

"I have a little sister. Maggie. She's four years younger than me. I haven't seen her since I was twelve years old," Selina said. "And this is beside the point; Alfred is a completely different person, Bruce. I wouldn't push it."

"I'll keep that in mind," Bruce said. "And I can't believe you didn't tell me about your sister."

"Normal people would be talking about how nice an afternoon we had," Selina said not-quite under her breath.

Bruce looked at Selina for a fleeting second before looking back at the road they were travelling down.

"Normal people haven't spent portions of their lives doing what we've done."

"Touché, Mr. Wayne," she said. "Let's go home. I feel like I need to go for a run after all that pasta and wine. That'll give you ample time to stalk this poor woman."

"I think I might go with you," he said.

"_You're_ going to go for a run?" she asked. "Seriously?"

"That sounds like a challenge," he said.

"You bet your Batman ass it's a challenge," Selina replied, smiling wide.

Bruce followed suit and lips curved into a wide smile of his own.

"Challenge accepted," he said in his Batman growl that sent shivers down her spine.

He floored the gas pedal and the car pressed forward. He wanted to get home as soon as possible.

… … …

"Would you like to go out for dinner, my love?" Alfred asked.

He had fallen hard for the woman. It had been a long time since Alfred had been in love and he wasn't going to take it for granted.

"Yes, I think I would like to have dinner on the river tonight," Sofia said. "I have some paperwork to attend to first, so I'm going to sit in my office. We can head into town later."

"Of course, Sofia," Alfred said. "I'm going to read my book on the porch and enjoy the rest of the sunshine."

Sofia kissed Alfred lightly and headed back towards her office.

Inside her office, she closed and locked the door. It had been an interesting day and now she needed some time to herself.

Walking over to her drafting boards, she turned the lights on above them. She turned over the board on the first and there were hundreds of images of Batman and Bruce Wayne.

Sofia laughed to herself when she remembered what they were calling themselves. Bruce Kyle? Ridiculous. This man was absolutely Bruce Wayne. And any fool with enough time and resources could put two and two together to get Batman. Her next question was who his wife was. Selina Kyle was her real name, but so far nothing had come up on searches. But she wasn't going to stop until she'd figured it out.

Someone as intelligent as Bruce Wayne could put a serious kink in the plans she had, but now that she had them on their radar, she would be able to take them out of it.

Her plans would proceed as originally intended with only two extra hurdles in her way.

… … … …

A/N: So, what did you think? Let me know.


	2. Chapter 2

Happily Ever After

.TWO.

The alarm rang loudly in the quiet of the dark bedroom. Both bodies in the bed groaned, stirring slightly.

"Is it really morning?" Selina said.

"It feels like we just went to bed," Bruce replied.

The woman threw out her arm and hit a button on the top of the alarm, effectively silencing the alarm.

"Mmm," she moaned appreciatively. "Nine more minutes."

"Sounds perfect," he mumbled into her neck and shoulder.

The next nine minutes passed by at a lightning pace. The shrill sound of the alarm filled the room again.

"Snooze? Please?" Bruce mumbled.

"No time, Wayne," Selina groaned.

It had been two weeks since their first meeting with Sofia. And Bruce had attempted to put his concerns about her aside. They'd been spending time with the older couple and today they had been roped into a ridiculously early sunrise breakfast on the lake. Neither person and their penchant for sleeping late had gotten worse in their retirement.

He kissed her bare shoulder and climbed out of bed.

"Why did we agree to this?" Selina pouted as she rose from the bed.

"_We_ agreed to nothing. _You_ said it would be…what adjective was it? Oh yes, lovely," Bruce called from the sitting area outside their bedroom.

Selina tossed a bed pillow as hard as she could, but the man sidestepped the projectile and headed for the kitchen.

He turned the coffee pot on for himself and ran water in the kettle for tea.

Selina joined him in the kitchen a moment later. She'd tied her robe around herself, but it only skimmed her thighs. Bruce admired his wife as she strolled towards him.

Bruce ran a hand through his sleep disheveled hair and smiled at Selina.

"What?" she yawned when she realized he was staring.

"Nice robe," he said simply.

"You bought it," Selina said back as she pulled two mugs from the cupboard. "And you've seen me in much less," she finished as she poured the boiling water over her teabag.

"I know."

Bruce put his arms around her, causing the robe's hemline to climb. But she stopped him when he started to lift her onto the counter.

"We do not have time to fool around," Selina said.

"Who's fooling?" Bruce replied.

"No."

Bruce stared at her; he said nothing.

"We will have time later. We need to make it through breakfast first."

Bruce started to play with the tie on her black silk robe.

"You're sure we don't have time? We could make up the time by driving really fast."

"That's adorable, but they are picking us up in our backyard. No driving required."

Bruce was quiet again.

"You look like I just kicked your puppy, Wayne."

"I've never been much of a dog person," he said. "I've always been more fond of cats," he smiled.

"You are hilarious."

Bruce poured himself a cup of coffee and took a long drink.

Selina shook her head.

"What?" Bruce asked.

"I don't know how you drink that. Black as black _decaf_ coffee. What's the point?"

"I like the flavor of coffee, but I don't like what caffeine does to me. I don't want to be dependent on the stuff."

"Well, if I don't have my morning caffeine, I won't be my normal self. You know, all sweetness and light," Selina replied in a deadpan as she headed for the stairs with her tea in hand.

"If you're going to go all _princess_ on me, Kyle, I'm going to want a divorce," he called after her.

She leaned over the stair rail and with her free hand sent him a very clear message.

Bruce laughed. "That's my girl."

By the time Bruce had joined her up in the master suite, Selina had steam coming from their shower. The bathroom door was wide open and Selina's tea sat on the bathroom counter while her robe and nightgown were in a heap on the floor.

Bruce joined her in the bathroom and turned on the sink's faucet. He needed to get cleaned up, too. And it was Saturday's routine to get ready together.

"I love you," Selina called from behind the glass shower door. "You know that, right?"

"Of course," Bruce replied. "And I love you."

He spread the shaving cream onto his face. They continued to get cleaned up in comfortable silence.

However, the silence was broken by Selina cursing loudly.

"What is it?" Bruce said, instantly on alert. He could tell from her tone that it wasn't just that she simply forgot something.

She said nothing.

"Selina?"

"I'm fine. Just…fine…" she hissed through gritted teeth.

He moved to the shower door and opened it. She was holding her shoulder as soap sit sat in her hair.

"The shoulder is giving you trouble again."

"Gee, how did you figure that out?"

"I think it's about time you got it checked out again, Selina," he said. "Are you finished?"

"No, I was just going to wash my hair."

Bruce quickly undressed and Selina made room for him in their shower. He massaged the kink in her shoulder first and then began to massage the soap into her scalp. He repeated the process with her conditioner.

"Thank you; I'll let you shower now. I'll shave my legs in the bathtub."

"Okay," Bruce said. He opened the door for her and Selina tiptoed over to the tub.

She immediately began running water in the tub.

"Are you going to go to the physical therapist?" he asked.

Selina rolled her eyes as hard as she could.

"I'm fine, baby," Selina purred as she sat gingerly in the tub and proceeded to shave her legs.

"You're lying," he almost-growled.

He absolutely knew she was lying. She was probably in a ton of pain. But Bruce needed to finish his shower or they would be really late for their breakfast with Alfred and Sofia.

Bruce and Selina finished getting ready in silence and soon it was time to meet their ride out on their dock.

Alfred had expertly guided the watercraft into the dock at their house. Selina smiled and waved as she headed down to the water.

The boat was enormous, though, and Selina figured it had to be described as something different. However, she was unsure of what that word would be.

Selina put her big floppy hat on her head and straightened her sunglasses. The sun was beginning to rise and it was blinding. There was reason she liked to sleep until noon.

Alfred held his hand out to help Selina aboard and he greeted her with a hug. Selina greeted Sofia with a kiss on the cheek.

"Your boat is beautiful, but I'm pretty sure it's not just a boat," Selina smiled.

"Well, it's almost a yacht; I think technically it's a sailboat," Sofia said, returning Selina's smile.

"Where is your husband?" Alfred asked, looking out towards the back of the house.

"Well, he was right behind me when I stepped out of the house," Selina said. "I hate when he does that."

"But he is very good at it," Alfred added.

Bruce chose that particular moment to reappear from the side of the house. He jogged towards them and was at the dock only a mere minute later.

"Good morning, Alfred, Sofia," he said as he helped himself aboard the boat. "This is a great," Bruce added as he admired the watercraft.

"Thank you," Sofia said back to him.

He greeted the woman with the typical double kisses on the cheek and handed her a vase of fresh flowers.

Sofia accepted the flowers gratefully. "They'll look lovely on the table, Bruce. Thank you."

Sofia said something to Sofia and both women laughed. They then turned to head down to the cabin.

Bruce shook Alfred's hand Alfred began to steer the boat back out towards the center of the lake.

"It's going to be a beautiful day," Alfred said.

Bruce nodded and adjusted his sunglasses. It was a very bright morning and the sun was casting a warm orange glow on the sky and the couple of clouds that were daring to bare themselves above them.

It was still a bit chilly that morning and Bruce was silently chastising himself for not grabbing a jacket to wear over his casual button down shirt.

"Yes, I think so," Bruce replied awkwardly.

While Bruce was happy to have Alfred back in his life, it was weird to be by himself around him. Bruce had thoroughly researched the woman that Alfred was now living with. In fact, Bruce had thoroughly researched Alfred J. Pennyworth to see if there was information that he didn't know. He'd learned a couple things about his former butler, but decided that they weren't significant enough to mention.

"Breakfast should be ready soon," Alfred said. "Sofia had it started before I even got up this morning."

Bruce nodded and smiled. What the hell should they talk about?

"Still not a morning person, are we Master Wayne?" Alfred laughed.

Bruce laughed.

_Good,_ Bruce thought to himself. _Alfred thought his silence was because he was tired, not because he didn't want to be there in the slightest._

"It was nice of you to think of flowers for Sofia. She loves fresh flowers," Alfred said, smiling like a teenager.

Bruce felt a pang of guilt as he looked at the grin on his friend's face. But he still didn't trust Sofia and he couldn't figure out why. But he tried to push that feeling away again. Selina had asked him to give it a rest and he was trying his best to ignore the natural feeling that he needed to find all the information about the woman that he could.

"I wonder if I can talk Selina into one of these," Bruce said, attempting conversation.

Alfred laughed. "Are you ever able to talk Selina into anything?"

"Only if she decides she wants it first," Bruce laughed.

"Must be the cat in her," Alfred replied.

In the cabin, Selina was helping Sofia put the finishing touches on their meal. Sofia had most of it prepared by the time that they had arrived at Selina and Bruce's home.

"I hope you're hungry," Sofia said as she started pulling food from a warming drawer. There was more food in the oven and she was cooking something on a burner on the stove.

"This is all for breakfast?" Selina asked.

Not only was she not a morning person, Selina really didn't like breakfast all that much either.

In the time that she'd spent on the street, she'd learned to eat only one meal a day, two if she were lucky. Breakfast, the most important meal of the day she was told, was a luxury a girl on the streets couldn't afford. Her family hadn't been big on the morning meal anyway. Her mom was an okay cook, but somehow always managed to burn toast. Selina inherited this skill.

"Of course, silly," Sofia said as she lightly poked Selina in the nose with her oven-mitted hand.

"You went to way too much trouble, Sofia," Selina said. "But it all smells delicious."

"Hopefully it will be. Do you think it's too chilly to eat above deck? I want to watch the rest of the sunrise," Sofia said. "It's my favorite part of the day."

Selina shook her head. "It should be fine. I didn't think it was too cold out this morning."

"Good," Sofia smiled. "Before we start taking the food up, can I talk to you about something?"

Selina put the stack of plates back down on the counter. "Of course, Sofia. What is it?"

Sofia wiped her hands on her lacy apron and picked up her tablet computer that had been charging on the counter. She turned it on a flicked through a couple things before turning it around so Selina could see it.

Selina focused on the image in front of her. It was one of her mug shots. In fact, it was her most recent mug shot.

"I'm going to make it really simple for you, Miss Kyle. I need assistance from you on a job when you go to Paris for your honeymoon. I'll spare you the technical details right now," Sofia said, the pleasantness in her voice disappearing with each word she spoke. "But I need a master thief and I happen to know that you fit the qualifications. And I'll bet you don't want either man upstairs to know the real you. You help me out and I won't rat you out to your husband."

Selina was at a loss for words. She'd spent hours researching her name, trying to make sure that the Clean Slate had done its job.

"I don't have a lot of time to wait for your answer, Selina," Sofia said. "And this meal is going to be very unpleasant when your husband realizes that you're a wanted criminal who has spent time in several prisons. Impressive, though, that you escaped for the first time at age sixteen."

"Fifteen," Selina said quietly. "I'll do it; just don't tell Bruce. He'll be heartbroken," she said. She was curious about this job and she'd never be able to live with Bruce now that she knew he'd been right. Sofia couldn't be trusted. So for the time being, she would play along at whatever Sofia was doing.

Besides, what was there to lose? Bruce already knew her past life.

"Well, then you've got to do _exactly_ what I tell you and your secret will stay between you and I," Sofia said.

"Ladies, do you need any help bringing the food out to the table?" Bruce called down into the galley.

A second later, he appeared in the doorway.

Sofia spun around, turning the tablet off and pushing it away.

"Bruce, you can take the plates and silverware," Sofia said, smiling happily. She handed him the pieces he needed and Bruce kissed Selina on the cheek before heading back in the direction he'd just come from.

"Don't you dare get all righteous and confess to your dear husband," Sofia hissed as soon as Bruce was out of earshot.

"Believe me, I can't risk him knowing about my life before I met him," Selina lied. "He loves me."

Sofia smiled a wicked smile.

"You don't know who Bruce Wayne really is, do you?" Sofia asked. "And I _do_ know that Wayne is his real surname."

"What do you mean?" Selina asked as innocently as possible.

"Oh, no, no," Sofia said. "I'm not telling you, if you don't know. But I _will_ expose him if you don't do everything I say. Do you understand me, Mrs. Wayne?"

"Yes," Selina replied.

Selina was truly at a loss for words.

Sofia handed her a chafing dish and ushered her down the hall.

This woman knew that Bruce was Batman. And she knew about Selina's past indiscretions. This was not going to be good for either of them.

Selina knew she'd done a good job acting for Sofia. She might know of Selina's less than pristine past, but she didn't know the length that she would go to protect what she loved.

She plastered a smile on her face and emerged into the sunshine and the presence of Alfred and Bruce.

"Breakfast is ready," Sofia called from behind her.

She had a tray of food in her arms and Selina took it from her as soon as she'd set her own dish down.

"Now what were you two ladies talking about?" Alfred said, kissing Sofia on the cheek.

"Oh, just girl-talk," Sofia replied. "Nothing that would interest either of you, right Selina?"

Selina smiled and shook her head. "Just female things," she said, trying to convince Sofia that she was scared.

Bruce knew something was up. He looked at Selina who was sitting down next to him.

"What's wrong?" he whispered in her ear before he kissed her on the cheek.

"I'll tell you later," she whispered back as Sofia turned her back.

She squeezed his hand in an attempt to be reassuring, but Bruce was still confused. He just had to hope that Selina had a grip on things.

Two hours later, Bruce and Selina were being dropped off at their dock.

Bruce continued to wave as the boat was heading out, but Selina had run back inside the house. She needed a second to figure out how she was going to break the news to Bruce.

But she wasn't going to get it, because Bruce caught up with her.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

Selina hesitated. She knew he didn't mean it as rudely as he'd said it and she didn't know how she was going to answer.

"Selina?"

"You were right about Sofia."

"What?"

"She knows you're Batman. And the Clean Slate isn't one hundred percent full-proof," Selina said.

"Of course it is, I designed it," Bruce replied.

"Well, she dug up my most recent mug shot. That's what she was showing me on the tablet computer when you walked in. She said that if I don't help her with some kind of heist in Paris, she's going rat us both out," Selina explained. "She thinks that you don't know about my past."

"Well, then, we're just going to have to play along with her game for a little while and see what she's going on and who she might be."

"You're taking this all a lot better than I thought you would," Selina replied. "Why is that?"

"Because you're panicking; someone has to have a level head," Bruce said. "And while she thinks you're trying to hide your past from me, we should use it to our advantage."

"I kind of hate that you're this smart," Selina replied.

Bruce wrapped his arms around his wife.

"It'll be okay, Selina," Bruce said. "We've faced much worse."

… … …

My apologies for the lack of an update until now. The inspiration to write fizzled out when I was tired all the time from working. Hopefully this chapter was satisfactory. Please let me know!

Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: I apologize sooooo much for not updating much sooner. I lost inspiration for writing for a while and I'm starting to get it back slowly. Hopefully, this chapter, which is rated M, by the way, will be enough to satisfy all the folks out there.

Please let me know how you feel about this chapter after you read it. It would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Happily Ever After

Three

"So what exactly did she say?" Bruce asked. He'd been trying to get the specific details out of his wife for about an hour. But it wasn't panic or fear that was keeping Selina from expressing herself.

She was pissed as hell.

"Who the hell does she think she is!?" Selina yelled. Selina was pacing, back and forth, angrier than she'd been in a very long time. She'd thrown her shoes at the wall, leaving two indentations in the drywall.

"Selina!" Bruce said, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Focus and tell me _exactly_ what she said."

Selina looked at him in the eyes as she attempted to calm herself down. But what she really wanted to do was go back to that damned boat and punch Sofia in the face.

"Sofia said that she'd researched us thoroughly. And that she had found out all about my past and that there was a certain something that she needed my expertise with."

"When?" Bruce said.

"She said it was when we went to Paris for our honeymoon," Selina sighed.

Bruce shook his head. "We don't even know when we're going," he said. "How could she…"

"She said that if I confessed my past to you and she found out, that she would tell everyone about you and your past. She knows you're Bruce Wayne," she finished.

"How could she know about…?"

"About Batman?" Selina finished. "Well, the Joker figured it out. I suppose someone with enough time and enough resources could solve the puzzle, too. It's not that big of a stretch of the imagination."

Bruce and Selina were silent for a second. They merely looked at each other in the quiet and peacefulness of their home.

"Well, we do have the element of surprise," Bruce said. "She thinks that I don't know about your _questionable_ past," he laughed.

"If she had enough time to figure out that you're the Dark Knight of Gotham, she probably should have figured out how we met," she pointed out.

Selina closed the space between them by leaning her head on his chest. Bruce wrapped his arms around her and held her.

"We've been through much worse," Bruce said. "Both separately and together. We just need to stay one step ahead of her."

"I'm worried about Alfred," Selina said suddenly.

Her statement shocked Bruce. He was silent for a minute.

"Say something," Selina said.

"Alfred is a grown man," Bruce replied.

"Yes," Selina agreed. "But he is currently living with someone who is devious and is lying to him. He is in a lot danger. We don't know who this woman really is yet and since we know, that makes it _our_ responsibility."

Bruce wasn't sure what to say.

"And I _know _he didn't tell her about you," Selina said. "He would _never_ do that."

Bruce shook his head. "I wasn't thinking that."

Selina stepped back from him and looked him in the eye. "Yes, you were. But Alfred Pennyworth would never, ever betray you like that. He loves you."

"Which means she's getting her information somewhere else," Bruce replied. "And we need to figure out where her stream of knowledge is coming from."

"You and I need to figure out who this woman actually is," Selina said.

She immediately began to stalk away from her husband. Selina was going to start researching Sofia.

"Where are you going?" Bruce called after her.

"I am going to start my own research," she called from the stairs. "I need to figure her out since she seems to think she's figured me out."

"I'm married to you and I wouldn't venture so far as to say I've figured you out," Bruce replied as he followed her up the stairs.

"I can't believe you were right," Selina said as she continued to climb the stairs.

Bruce paused in his steps behind her. "Pardon me, madam, but you _can't believe I was right_?" he asked. "Why is that?"

"You know what I mean," Selina said as she stopped and turned to look at her husband. She rolled her eyes dramatically for effect, but it was apparently lost on the man.

"No, I don't think I do," he replied.

"Oh, seriously, Bruce! You're missing the point here," Selina yelled. Her voice echoed through the staircase and house. "She knows who you are, she knows who I am. She is threatening my way of life and I don't like that. I'm going to fix it."

Selina continued to stalk up the stairs without another word.

Bruce nodded his head slowly. "I stand corrected."

He followed her up the stairs and found her booting up her newly acquired computer in their bedroom.

"Do you know where to start?" Bruce asked.

The look Bruce received would have reduced normal men to a puddle of mush.

However, Bruce Wayne wasn't a normal man.

Bruce Wayne took a step towards his wife in spite of the danger that it could potentially be.

"I am only asking because I've done a little research already and I would gladly share it with you. It might help," he said.

Selina narrowed her eyes at the man before her.

"All right, what do you have on her?" Selina asked.

Bruce turned on his own computer after crossing the room. Once the computer was running, he immediately began to pull up all of the documents, articles and videos that he'd collected about the elusive Sofia.

"A _little_ research?" Selina asked as the information started popping up, filling the small computer screen.

"I can put it up on the big screen if you want," Bruce said.

"You don't do _anything_ halfway, do you, Wayne?" she asked.

"Well, this isn't how I pictured spending our afternoon, but, if this is what's happening, I'm going to invest myself," he replied.

Selina put her head on his shoulder. "You'll get your reward later, Batman," she purred into his ear. "But this might take a while; I'm going to get comfortable."

Selina unfolded herself from around Bruce and headed for the closet, while unbuttoning the shirt she was wearing. She emerged a few minutes later in a pair of black yoga pants and a form-fitting top.

"Let's go out here and spread out," she said, grabbing her laptop.

… … … …

It had been about a month since Sofia had made her demands on Selina during their breakfast on the sailboat.

Bruce and Selina had, of course, kept up appearances and gone to each and every one of the events that Sofia had since chosen to invite them on. There had been a weekend trip to Rome and more trips out on the lake in Sofia's sailboat.

Alfred seemed happier and happier each time they visited; clearly he was in love with this woman. And if Selina didn't know the truth about Sofia, she would say that this woman was also in love with the older gentleman. But that worried her all the more.

Three days ago, Sofia announced to Selina on their 'girls only' shopping trip, that she needed to test her. The shock must have registered on Selina's face because Sofia went on to explain herself. She wanted to see Selina's cat-burglar skills in action before she trusted her completely to the task assigned of her in Paris.

In a week's time, the two couples were going to be going to a masquerade ball in Florence. And Selina would be tasked with collecting a very rare gem on display at the museum hosting the ball. And she had to do it during the party, with everyone in attendance, including Bruce.

Upon hearing the news, Bruce was not pleased. He turned around from his computer desk and looked at her after she walked into his office with her shopping bags.

"No," he frowned. "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

He pulled her into his lap and he waited for an answer from his wife.

"No, I _don't_ think it's a good idea. But how else are we going to make sure she trusts me? I don't see another option."

"_Don't_ do it. Tell her no."

"I want to know who she is. I am going to break into her house and find out."

"I don't like that either," Bruce said. "And she probably expects it if she knows your background."

"I just _walked_ into your house…"

"And back-flipped out the window," Bruce deadpanned.

"Don't even start, Mr. Wayne," Selina said. "You liked it," she breathed into his ear. "And this is the only thing I think will work, Bruce. I don't like that I can't find any information about her. There's nothing about her past, other than what she told us. And I completely believe that it's all bullshit."

"Because it _is_ all bullshit," Bruce said. "She must have spent a lot of time replacing all that information on the internet and everywhere else."

"Which makes it seem like she's got that much more to hide," she purred into his ear.

"You don't have anything else to prove, Selina," he growled back in her ear.

"Pot. Kettle. Black," she replied as she poked him lightly in his pectoral muscle. "I need to know what we're all involved with. I need to protect…"

"You _don't_ need to protect me," he said, rising from the chair with her in his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he carried her to the bedroom. He tossed her to the bed lightly and looked down at her. "It's _my_ job to protect _you,_" he growled in his Batman voice that sent shivers down her spine.

"What about Alfred?" Selina asked as she looked up at him.

But Bruce was already pulling his shirt over his head.

"I don't want to talk about Alfred right now," he said once his torso was bare. His eyes were dark, incredibly dark and Selina knew better than to stop Bruce Wayne once he was onto something.

Selina shimmied out of her shorts and tossed them over Bruce's shoulder.

"You know _I_ like doing that," he said.

Selina's eyebrow arched. "You're really going to debate this right now?" she asked.

He didn't answer her. He merely removed his own shorts and kicked them aside.

"You can take off the rest," Selina smirked as she looked up at him.

"Unnecessary," he growled.

The grabbed her calves, hard enough that she couldn't get away; not that she would want to. But he was careful not to leave bruises. Bruce pulled her toward him and soon they were together and picking up a well-practiced rhythm.

It wasn't sweet or gentle. It was urgent and frantic and they both fought to gain control over the other. It was more of a wrestling match than love-making. Coarse language was thrown about and as Bruce followed her up towards the head of the bed.

Bruce won out, not for lack of trying on her part, and she wound up on her back on the mattress again. He ripped the shirt she was wearing in half and slid it down her shoulders. In another instant, Selina's legs were wrapped around his waist, holding him close; she wanted her chest pressed against his. Her heels dug into his lower back. Normally, she tried to make sure she wasn't hurting him; today, she didn't care.

Bruce wasn't so gentle either. His hand wound itself in her hair and pulled head back to expose more of her neck. She arched her body towards him, submitting to him completely.

Pillows fell off the bed and sheets and blankets twisted beneath them. Selina paused only when one of her lamps shattered on the floor with a loud crash.

"You can buy a new one tomorrow," he said, taking just a moment away from her neck and collarbone.

"I didn't like that lamp anyway," she panted against his shoulder.

Selina was up against the headboard as she finally found her release. Bruce's hand left the smooth curve of her side as well as the tangled mess of her hair and gripped the antique wood behind his wife's head as his own release was coming. It splintered beneath his strong hands as the final wave of pleasure rolled through him.

He collapsed on top of her as carefully as he could and the two of them lay in silence for a moment, panting hard.

"I don't want you to do anything she asks you," Bruce finally said, his forehead finally resting on her shoulder.

Selina ran a hand through his damp, dark hair and settled it on the back of his neck. She drew soft circles with her index finger as she spoke. "I know," she said. "But I _have_ to."

"The _Clean Slate_ was supposed to fix this," he said. "It was supposed to make sure that you didn't _have_ to do anything you didn't want to do anymore. Only what you_ wanted_ to do," he finished quietly.

"I told you a long time ago, _once you've done what you had to, they'll never let you do what you want to._"

He remembered that particular night very well. It was his first night out of his house in eight years and he was on a mission to get his mother's pearls back. And while he'd retrieved the pearls, he lost his favorite Lamborghini in the process.

"And you said that there was no fresh start in today's world. But we've come this far, Selina," Bruce said. "You and I, this house, our life..I'm not willing to give it up because of this one woman."

"We've come this far only to hit a wall again, Bruce," she said. Selina tried to move out from underneath him, but he pinned her in place and looked down into her eyes. She tried to look away, but she couldn't for long. He was damn hard to resist.

"We'll leave," he said.

"What?!" she yelled. "We can't leave! If we leave, we have to keep running. Besides, what about Alfred?"

Bruce rolled over on his side and looked at her after running his own hands through his hair. Selina had come to know that this was his nervous habit. It immediately gave his emotions away, despite the fact that he kept his face blank.

Selina was still on her back, not looking at him.

"What's your plan?" he asked after a tense silence.

"The masquerade ball is this weekend. You set something up to get Alfred and Sofia out of the house. When they're out, I can go in," Selina said simply.

"That's it?" he asked. "That's your only plan?"

Selina turned to look at him. "Not everything has to be overly planned out and dramatic, Bruce. Sometimes the simple plan works the best."

"And what if you get caught?" he asked.

"That won't happen," she replied.

"I caught you," Bruce said back quickly.

Selina rolled towards him so they were face to face on their messy bed.

"Have you considered the fact that maybe I wanted you to catch me?" she asked.

"I highly doubt that," he responded. "But it sounded good."

"The plan will work, Bruce. I just need fifteen minutes in the house," she said as she moved to inspect the now-broken headboard. "I liked this headboard. It was an antique." She brushed splinters off of the bed onto the floor. It was a bigger mess than she'd originally thought. It probably couldn't be salvaged.

"Sorry," he replied with a smirk on his face.

"No, you're not," she said back. "But it's okay, as long as you let me go alone to Sofia's house."

Selina knew it was going to be cold reaction to what she had said. She knew he would hate the bargain she was attempting to make. But what Bruce did shocked her more than she'd ever imagined.

He was laughing at her. Actual, full out, belly laughs.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked.

Bruce was laughing so hard he was trying to catch his breath.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you go alone?" he asked.

Selina rose from the bed and stood, hands on her hips, staring at her husband.

"_Let me?_" she hissed. "Seriously, Bruce, it's like you don't know me at all."

She immediately turned on her heel and locked herself in the bathroom. That was the last Bruce heard from her for the rest of the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Here is the next update, hopefully it'll start to answer some questions. This one is probably on the verge of being rated M, so please don't be too angry with me, but even I can't resist writing a bit of BatCat smut. Anyway, let me know what you think once you've read it.

Happily Ever After

Four.

Selina immediately began to plan an extravagant night for Sofia and Alfred and refused all help that Bruce, in a half-assed manner, tried to offer her. It only took about an hour, and soon everything was coming together. And she absolutely refused to let Bruce in on any of it.

Alfred would be taking Sofia out for dinner and a show in town. They would have to leave about five in the afternoon in order to make their dinner reservations that Selina insisted that she set up for them. Selina had paid for everything, saying that she and her husband felt awful for missing Alfred's birthday and they just wanted to do something nice for them.

Alfred was curious at first, Bruce not being one to lavish gifts on the older gentleman in the past, but since being with Selina, he'd known that Bruce had changed.

To be absolutely certain the house would lay empty all night, Selina had booked them a room at the fanciest and most romantic hotel in town…town that was forty minutes away. Even if Sofia wanted to say no, and Selina was banking on the fact that she wouldn't, she couldn't because Alfred would insist that they couldn't refuse the gift. Particularly a gift that was so expensive.

It was one in the morning when Selina slipped out of the bed she shared with her husband. She moved soundlessly, careful not to disturb the man next to her. She waited until he was sound asleep, rolled over on his left side and away from the door. Bruce's breaths were deep and rhythmic. This was her chance. It was time for her to go.

Selina headed downstairs to the spare bedroom and she slipped into her newly acquired leather cat suit, a new version of the one she'd worn in Gotham more than a year ago. It was a bit stiff, but it fit her perfectly. She had to remember to send a thank you note to the leatherworker who fashioned it for her later. However, her smirk of pleasure changed as she zipped it up to her neck. It instantaneously brought back the memories of the last time she'd put a suit like this on. The last time she'd put it on was when she decided to stay in Gotham and help the man she was now married to. She thought he was crazy then, now she knew the truth: he was. But then again, so was she.

Selina's mode of transport was going to be the motorcycle that she'd convinced Bruce she needed just last week. And while she was fond of the cycle itself, she missed the Batpod dearly. She steered her motorcycle on the narrow Italian streets, wishing silently that Bruce hadn't blown it up in Gotham.

It was a long ride in the dark. Selina wore her new night-vision goggles so she could avoid using the headlamp as long as she possibly could.

After what felt like an eternity, Selina stopped the motorcycle about a distance of a city block in Gotham from Sofia's house. It lay dark and quiet. Just like Selina liked it and needed it to be.

As she approached the house, Selina was grateful that Sofia had given her a tour of the whole house, except the room that she kept referring to as her 'office'. That was where Selina figured she needed to start. That could be the only place she needed to go, barring some secret room like Bruce had.

Silently and stealthily, Selina made her way up to the house. She found plenty of long shadows to keep herself hidden in, being well-practiced in keeping the prying eyes off of her. While Sofia didn't have many neighbors, it wasn't possible to be too careful in these situations. She crept around the side of the renovated farmhouse and found a window that would be in the precise place as that of where Sofia's office lay in the floor plan. Of course it was closed; that would be too easy.

The last time Selina had visited the house, she remembered to check for an alarm system. She thought it would be too odd to ask Alfred flat out, but she was in luck. There was a keypad by both the front and back doors and after expertly picking the locks on the back door; she paused at the blinking keypad to her left.

She knew she was only going to have about 30 seconds, maybe 45 at most, to type in the code. Lucky for her, she was excellent at this. She cracked her knuckles and got to work.

A simple device pulled from her utility belt and scanned over the buttons showed significant wear on 4 digits. And she knew, after watching Sofia the last time she was there, that the first digit was zero. That brought down the possible number of combinations to a very manageable figure. But she was still only going to have two times, she reasoned, to try it out.

"Try 0-8-6-2," a voice growled behind her.

She jumped a mile and lashed out with her arm, immediately at the defense. Her elbow connected with a hard body, but only for a moment. The second intruder grabbed her arm and whirled her around, so they could see eye to eye.

Selina stared incredulously at her husband. He was dressed in all black, and it was eerily reminiscent of the batsuit that he'd donned as savior of Gotham.

"Type it in, Selina," he said. "We don't have much time."

She turned back to the keypad and did as she was told. The panel read _disarmed_ and Selina turned back to her husband. They stared at each other in silence for a full minute before Bruce spoke.

"Did you really think I was going to let you do this alone?" he asked, his voice not dropping the Batman growl.

"Get out," she said as forcefully as she could with a whisper. "This isn't yours…"

"You are my wife and therefore I am here with you," he said.

"This is ridiculous. I don't have time for this," she said, shoving him aside as best she could.

Her path to the office was long. All of the curtains and blinds were up, letting in the light from the moon and stars, so Selina and Bruce were going to have to remain low to make sure no one outside saw movement within the house.

She wished to hell that he wasn't here, but he was, so the point was moot. Selina crouched to the ground and Bruce followed her actions.

"What's the plan?" he whispered.

"It was to get in and get out as quickly as possible. But now you're here and…"

"And I can keep watch for you," Bruce finished.

"Or do you mean _over _me?" she asked in a hoarse whisper. But it didn't matter. Whatever he said wasn't going to change her mind or make her feel any better. "Never mind, just please stay back, Bruce," she said.

"You get five minutes in that office," he said. "Then we're getting the hell out of here."

"Honey, that's more than enough time to do what I need to," she said. She winked in his general direction and headed off in the direction of the office.

Selina crouched as close to the ground as possible and soon she was at the door to the office. She tried the doorknob, but it wouldn't turn. Locked. This was definitely the room she needed. Why would Sofia need to keep a room locked unless there was something in there to hide?

Selina pulled her lock-picking equipment out of her utility belt and began working on it. This lock was more sophisticated than that of the backdoor, which might have surprised anyone else, but Selina knew she was getting to the good stuff.

"Here, let me try," Bruce's voice said as she put his gloved hand on hers.

Selina shook her head in anger. "Seriously, Bruce. You were supposed to stay in the sitting room, keeping an eye out. I used to do this myself all the time."

"I know," he said. "But now you don't have to."

She withdrew her death-grip on the lock picking tools and let Bruce take hold of them. Within seconds, the shiny brass knob was turning under his grip and the door was swinging open.

He gave her a knowing look and she rolled her eyes in response. Selina pushed past him and adjusted her night-vision goggles once more. The window was directly opposite the door that they had just opened. There was a desk against the wall to her left and two tall file cabinets on either side of the large window.

A computer was idling on the large desk, the soft hum filling Selina's ears. She wanted to go through every single file on that computer, but there wasn't going to be enough time.

"What would be your first stop?" Bruce asked.

"The computer," she said.

He shook his head.

"What, then?" she asked him flatly. "The file cabinets will take just as long as the computer."

"I'd start with the picture on the desk," he said, pointing at a small framed photo.

Selina narrowed her eyes again and focused on the photograph that Bruce was talking about. She recognized the man that a younger Sofia was standing with. She wasn't sure why though.

"I know him…I think," Selina said.

Bruce nodded. "So do I."

"I can't place him, though," she said, studying the image further.

"Carmine Falcone," Bruce whispered.

A shiver went through Selina at the mention of the man's name. She shook her head and tried to clear it, but it wasn't working.

"Just because she _knows _him, doesn't mean…" she said, trailing off when her night-vision caught sight of something else hanging on the wall. "Never mind…"

"What?" Bruce asked, following her gaze.

"She _is_ a Falcone," Selina said, walking over to the wall. "Here's her family tree. And here's Carmine."

"Cousins," Bruce whispered.

"It doesn't mean that she's…" Selina trailed off.

Bruce shrugged before moving to the file cabinets and opening a drawer. He began to read the names on some of the files while Selina inspected the bookshelves. Finding nothing particularly interesting, she moved on to the desk drawers.

Each of the drawers were locked, but Selina was able to open them quickly. Finding nothing but paperclips and pencils in the first two drawers, Selina moved on to the third and final drawer in the large desk. This drawer housed only one thing…a large, leather-bound journal.

Selina opened it and focused on the delicate cursive handwriting that couldn't belong to anyone besides Sofia.

"Bruce," she said quietly.

Immediately, his attention shifted from the file in his hand, to the book she had laid out on the desk.

Selina hadn't looked for anything specific when she opened the book; she simply picked a page and opened it. A letter signed by Carmine Falcone marked a journal entry. It was dated a year ago, during the time of Bane's occupation of Gotham City.

"Some of this letter makes sense, Bruce," Selina said. "The rest is total nonsense," she finished.

Selina handed the letter to Bruce, careful not to lose the particular page in the journal.

"Falcone was put in Arkham by the Scarecrow over ten years ago," Bruce said. "He was hit with the fear toxin…"

"What?" Selina said. "Fear toxin?"

"Story for another day," Bruce said.

"Okay…" Selina said. "I really like this part where Falcone talks about what the Joker says about you."

"It's too bad that we didn't see this letter a long time ago," Bruce said.

"Yes, truly unfortunate," she said sarcastically.

Bruce produced another device from his own belt and snapped a picture of the letter.

"That won't turn out; you didn't use a flash," Selina said.

"Ye of little faith," Bruce replied back.

"What's next Batman?" Selina asked innocently. "What do you propose that we do now?"

"We get the hell out of here," he growled. "We know who she is."

"Sounds like a good plan," Selina said.

The couple systematically went through and put everything back where they'd found it. Bruce locked the door from the inside and they silently closed the door.

They back-tracked their way out of the house and Selina armed the security system before they locked the door and left.

As soon as they were far enough away from the house, Selina turned back to Bruce, who was keeping pace with her. She turned and kissed him, momentarily distracting him.

"Race ya home, Wayne," she said, ducking away from him and finding her motorcycle. She sent him one last look over her shoulder before starting it up and heading out into the darkness of the countryside.

With her head start, Selina beat Bruce back to their home and she was still standing in her cat burglar garb, waiting for him.

Bruce found her standing in the kitchen, drinking a glass of water at the sink. Her long gloves were left haphazardly on the kitchen island.

"I'm sure you'll tell me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I've told you how much I like your suit," he said from the top of the stairs as he eyed her form.

"Don't try to distract me from the matter at hand Bruce Wayne," Selina said. "You just show up…"

"Is it new?" he asked as he moved closer to her.

She held up her hand to halt his movements.

"Bruce!" she shouted.

"Okay, I'm sorry I didn't let you go alone, but I wanted to make sure you were safe. I know you're used to working alone, believe me, I understand. But you and I are in this together now," he explained as he closed the distance between them.

"You should have just told me," she said.

Bruce's left hand found the curve of her hip and his right hand slid up the zipper that started just below her belly button. His index finger traced all the way up her flat stomach, between her breasts and he stopped once he reached the ring under her chin.

"So you like this old thing?" she asked, forgetting her argument.

His finger hooked through the ring and he started to drag the zipper down, revealing skin slowly. The first detail he noticed was a long chain with whatever was she'd strung on it tucked into the top of her bra.

He tugged lightly on the chain and her rings sprung free and hung between her breasts.

"My gloves wouldn't fit over them," she offered as explanation.

Bruce nodded.

"I'm curious to find out what one wears under an outfit like this," Bruce said. "You already know what went under the armor I wore."

He kept unzipping until the suit was completely open. She was only wearing a bra underneath.

Bruce eyed his wife curiously.

"What?" Selina asked.

"This can't be _only_ what you wore _all those nights_…"

"It can't?" she asked innocently as she batted her eyelashes.

Bruce let out a low growl of approval.

His hands began to snake around the smooth curves of her shoulders, stopping only momentarily to trace the scar at her collarbone from the Joker's knife and the round one from the bullet. He began to slide the leather down her arms. It happened much more easily than he'd expected and soon the suit was at her waist revealing all of the pale flesh of her upper body.

The boots she wore put her on an even height with Bruce and she looked into his dark eyes.

"What do you want, Bruce?" she whispered.

"Upstairs," he growled. "Now."

He scooped her up effortlessly.

"I guess I didn't know that my suit affected you this way," she purred.

He climbed the rest of the steps, two at a time, almost at a run.

"You have no idea," he replied.

In a flash, they were in their bedroom and Bruce laid her down on the bed.

"I don't suppose the boots can stay on?" Bruce asked.

"That's the problem with this suit," she said.

Bruce grinned. "There are _no_ _problems_ with this suit."

"Well, if you want the rest of the suit off, boots have to go…"

Bruce blew out air, more likely than not trying to keep himself in control of the situation.

"Well…?"

She waited for him to decide what he wanted to do.

He moved his hands to the hem of his own shirt and removed it before working on the cargo pants that he'd worn to moonlight as a burglar. He kicked them aside before moving back towards his wife on the bed.

He grabbed her rings that were resting on her chest and pulled. He broke the chain and slid the jewelry off. Bruce took her left hand and he slid the impressive jewels back onto her ring finger.

"Better," he said before getting on to the business at hand.

… … …

Bruce woke the next morning to bright sunlight streaming into his eyes. He groaned in anger and attempted to roll over to bury his face in his wife's warm body. But all he found were cold sheets.

He glanced at the clock. 6:30. Bruce sighed loudly before sitting up. His back ached but he smiled as he remembered last night.

Selina's cat suit was in a pile on the floor and her boots were blocking the path to the bathroom. The steel knives that were her heels glinted in the offending sunlight.

The door to the bathroom stood open and there were no sounds coming from it.

He climbed from the bed and stretched before putting on his pair of pajama pants. He smiled when he couldn't locate the top.

Leaving his bedroom, he walked out of the sitting room and looked over the railing into the family room below. Selina was passed out on the couch, in his black silk pajama top with her laptop on her stomach and papers strewn about the room and on the coffee table.

He smiled and took the stairs to be closer to her and to take a look at the various papers she had.

Bruce carefully picked up the computer and Selina shifted slightly when the weight was removed, but she did not wake. And Bruce was very surprised at what he found when he focused.

The floor plans to the museum in Florence and an image of a leopard diamond, hanging on a gold chain, on a marble bust took up the entire computer screen.

He kneeled down and set the computer down before turning to the papers scattered on the floor. There were sketches of the jewel and notes about its size, shape and color as well as location and normal, everyday security.

She'd been working on this for hours.

"Selina," he said, whispering, trying to contain his anger.

She opened one eye and looked at him. She smiled in his direction, happy to see him, but it quickly turns to a frown when she sees the look on his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sitting up.

"We need to talk about all this," he said, waving his hand at the computer and the papers all around. "Because you aren't doing this."


	5. Chapter 5

Happily Ever After

FIVE

Bruce's words sobered Selina immediately. She was, unfortunately, very awake and angry about it.

"What do you think you…?"

"Bruce, I _have_ to do this," she said.

"No, you don't. We can't trust the woman. For whatever reason and I suppose I know the reason, she has targeted the two of us. Even if you make a move towards the diamond in the case, she'll probably have you arrested or someone else will. You said Sofia doesn't think I know about you and your past, she's obviously trying to get the both of us out of the picture. You stealing the gem, in her mind, would get you arrested and probably leave you in jail."

Selina rolled her eyes.

"They would have to prove I stole something," Selina said, ignoring her husband's words. "A necklace in a glass case doesn't stand a chance against me and my skills."

Bruce grunted angrily and started pacing the room.

"No…no," Bruce said, shaking his head. "Absolutely not. I forbid…" he started. But he realized as soon as he'd started that his words were a mistake.

Selina was off the couch in an instant and staring straight into Bruce's eyes.

"You _forbid_ me?!" she asked. "You forbid _me?_" she asked again. "Really? I think you're underestimating me, Bruce Wayne."

"Selina…I can't lose you," he said quietly.

"We've had this discussion before. I'm not going anywhere," she said. "But you have to understand that until we deal with this woman…sooner rather than later, Bruce, she isn't going to back down and she isn't going to leave us alone."

Bruce said nothing.

"I don't want to run anymore. All my life I've been running from something. It's been a shitty life, Bruce. I've finally got something again and I'll be damned if this woman just comes and takes it away," Selina said. "I can do this. You need to trust me," she said as she put her hands on his forearms.

"Of course I trust you," he replied.

"Do you want to hear my plan?" she asked. "I have all of the major details worked out. But I know that you might have some suggestions."

Bruce looked down at his wife. It was impossible to ignore how confident she was. And he knew running wasn't really an option. But he did not say anything.

"Come sit down and I'll walk you through my plan."

Selina took his hand and she sat him down on the couch. He waited while she gathered the papers she needed that were now crumpled and in complete disarray all over the room.

"The _Leopardo Diamante_ …"

"The _leopard diamond?"_ Bruce asked with a sarcastic tone.

Selina ignored him. "…is one of the rarest gems in the entire world. It once belonged to Cleopatra; it was a gift from Caesar," she explained. Bruce nodded and waited for her to continue on with her story.

"After Cleopatra's death and Egypt became part of the Roman Empire, the gem was lost. Hundreds of years later, it somehow turned up in Marie Antoinette's court in Versailles. No one is quite sure how that occurred, but historians chalk it up to the fact that as soon as people started owning things, other people started wanting them…"

"So _thievery_ is the world's oldest profession?" Bruce interjected.

"I would know," she smiled and winked back at him. "Once it was discovered that the precious jewel wasn't lost forever, in an act of kindness, the French court sent it back to the Italian court. Although, Marie Antoinette's mother thought it was a poor decision and wrote as such in a letter to her daughter. It now sits in a heavily guarded, bullet-proof box and no one looks at it. But once every ten years, the museum hauls it out, shines it up and throws a party in its honor."

"Once every ten years?" Bruce asked. "That doesn't seem very often."

"Well, it's mostly used for fundraising purposes. It's one of those high-toned, full of rich and snobby…" she trailed off, smirking. "Well, you're probably familiar with the drill."

"Go on," Bruce said, almost to the Batman growl.

"Okay, so I've got the floor plans to the museum. Where and how the thing is going to be displayed," Selina said, motioning to her computer screen. It's not very large, maybe two, two and a half inches, tops. It's set in 24 karat gold with a delicate chain. They believe that the chain on it is the very same that both Cleopatra and Marie Antoinette wore. Although, they can't be sure…"

"What's it worth?"

"About 10 million," Selina said. "Give or take a few thousand. But it's historical value completely outweighs the monetary value."

"Okay, so you've done your research, Mrs. Wayne, but you have yet to tell me your plan to get it out of its display case and not get caught in the process."

"I am getting to that, Mr. Wayne, but you keep interrupting me," she fired back.

"I do apologize," he said. "Continue, please," he said, settling back on the couch to watch her.

"Thank you," Selina said. "Okay, so gem won't be taken out of its special room until the morning of the party, which is Friday, in three days.

"I am going to break into the museum, take the real diamond and replace it with the look-alike that you're going to make me."

"The fake that _I_ am going to make?" he asked.

"I know you made those bat-shaped things that you throw at people," Selina said. "I…"

"Batarangs," Bruce said under his breath.

"Whatever," Selina replied. "I have every faith in you that you can make me a replica," she said sweetly.

"You're awfully friendly when you want something," Bruce pointed out.

Selina smiled. "I'm friendly all the time," she said. "Except for when I'm not."

"So you want to break in and steal the real diamond and replace it with the fake. Then what?"

"Are you asking me if I'm going to keep it?" Selina asked. "Because…"

"No, I just want to know the next step."

Selina nodded.

"Okay, well, the next step is, at the party, I switch the two back. The real diamond goes back on display and the fake one goes back to Sofia, neither the museum nor the crazy lady is any wiser. Then Sofia will trust me and then I'll find out about the Paris job," Selina said. "She'll let me in on her plans."

"Did you always do this much preparation work?" Bruce asked.

"Are you seriously asking me or are you being an ass?" she replied.

"I want to know."

Selina let out an exasperated sigh.

"I did whatever work was necessary," she said. "And I will continue to do it. You can't tell me that you didn't do this kind of preparation."

Bruce nodded. "Of course I did," he answered her. "I'm just kind of amazed that you've done this without all of the resources that I had available to me."

"I had _other _resources," she smiled devilishly.

"I don't want to know, do I?" he asked as he ran a hand through his bed-head.

"Nope," she continued to smile.

"So how do you plan on getting the real diamond back into the display case while everyone is admiring it, my darling wife?" he asked, a note of sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh, husband, it's going to be without a glass case for the night of the party. I've researched past parties; they're pretty cavalier about how they display it for the hordes of rich people. And apparently a glass case is unacceptable for these particular folks. They'd probably want to hold the _Mona Lisa_, too," she finished.

Bruce laughed. "I see your opinion hasn't changed much."

"If I didn't already know that these parties were for the museum to fleece these people for money so it can stay open and take care of their art pieces properly, I would think that pandering to this particular group of individuals is a total and complete waste of time," Selina said. "And no, having the money hasn't changed my opinion, Bruce."

Bruce continued to smile at his wife. He knew who she was and how she felt; and it didn't matter to him one bit. Selina was who she was and made no apologies about it. Bruce liked it that way.

"So, when do you need the faux diamond?" Bruce asked, reaching out for his wife.

Selina allowed herself to be pulled into his lap and she smiled at him.

"Tonight."

"Oh?" he asked.

"I know, I know…short notice. But I want to go to Florence tonight," Selina said.

"Tonight?" Bruce repeated.

"Well, in case Sofia _is_ waiting for me to break in so she can bust me, I want to beat her to the punch," she explained as she stroked her husband's cheek with her fingertips. "I want to get it done and over with."

"What _are_ you going to do with the real diamond in the meantime?" Bruce asked. "Where do you keep it safe?"

"I'm going to stash it in another part of the museum," she said. "I don't want to take it out of the building."

"Worried?" Bruce asked slight amusement in his voice.

"Not at all," Selina said confidently. "If, for whatever reason, the plan fails, and it won't, you and I won't ever be connected to it. But Sofia will be," Selina said as she reached toward the coffee table. She handed a piece of paper that was sealed in a plastic bag to her husband.

"Fingerprints," Bruce smiled.

"I've already run them through the proper databases to ensure that they _do_ belong to Sofia Falcone. Both the fake and the real one are going to be completely covered in them," Selina told him.

Bruce narrowed his eyes and looked down into his wife's eyes.

"Were you this passionate when you were robbing me?" he asked.

Selina smiled again. "I can't honestly say that I've ever been as passionate about anything before. I've always lived my life to take care of myself, and I'm pretty sure the next bit is your fault, I can't imagine _not_ having this," she paused to wave her hand around before stroking Bruce's face. "I can't imagine someone taking you away from me. So, I'm willing to fight to protect it. By any means necessary," she added softly.

"Well, then," he smiled a wide smile. "Let's get to it. There's a lot that needs to be done."

"Bruce?" Selina said as he started to move away from her.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Good," was her only response as she headed for the kitchen.

… … …

Two hours later, Bruce was in the garage, working on the beginnings of the fake gem for his wife. It was going to need to be perfect. And those spots were going to be the death of him. But he was going to work on it as long as it took.

Selina was still working from the couch. She hadn't showered and her dark hair was being held back with a pencil. Drawing and diagrams as well as the real information she'd managed to finally find about Sofia was scattered all around the living room. It was a mess, but she worked best when she had all of the information in sight and within reach.

She'd decided she needed music about an hour ago and put her headphones in. While she'd been living with Bruce for over a year now, she still didn't want him to know about her fondness for 90s boy bands or their catchy pop songs. Her headphones allowed her to indulge without Bruce being privy to everything about her at once.

So, when the doorbell rang for the third time and she didn't hear it, the visitors on the doorstep decided to use the garage entrance, since they'd heard noise from that particular area.

Bruce was momentarily surprised, uncharacteristic for him when the guests entered the workspace and he dropped the particular piece of jewelry that he was working on. Thankfully, it rolled out of sight and he stood smiling at his guests.

They would want to see Selina as well. The next ten minutes were going to be interesting.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Please review. I would love to know what everyone still thinks of the storyline.


	6. Chapter 6

Happily Ever After

SIX

Bruce Wayne was at a loss for words. He was _never_ at a loss for words. He looked back and forth at the two people who had just walked straight into his garage. He was letting himself get sloppy; he should never have left the side door open for ventilation. Bruce did not like this…not one bit.

"Good morning, Alfred, Sofia," he said, while making sure that all the diagrams and bits and pieces were put out of sight of prying eyes.

"Good morning, Bruce," Sofia greeted him cheerfully. "I'm so sorry we surprised you."

"I'm rather surprised that we _were _able to do so," Alfred muttered.

"Isn't it a bit early to be out here using power tools?" Sofia asked. "What are you doing out here, Brucie?"

Bruce cringed internally at her nickname for him. He'd been called it before, but for some reason as it came out of her mouth, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard to his ears.

"Just a little household project. No big deal," Bruce lied and applied a fake smile on his face. Alfred probably knew it was a fake one, but at this early in the morning, Bruce really didn't care.

"We realize that's early but we just _had_ to stop by and thank you and Selina for the wonderful trip," Sofia said.

"It was on our way home," Alfred explained. Even though he was no longer under the employ of Bruce Wayne, the idea of intruding on the man, and now Selina too, for a good reason or bad, was positively the epitome of bad manners. "I tried to convince her to just call later…"

"But since it was on the way I thought we should just take the chance and see if you were awake," Sofia said as she squeezed Alfred's hand. "Where is that lovely wife of yours? No offense, Bruce, dear, but I just _know_ that this whole trip had to be her idea."

Everything she said grated on Bruce's nerves. Knowing every single word she said was a total lie definitely made sitting in the same room with her unbearable. The last month of their outings had been awful, but this morning was worse than all those days combined. Maybe it was because he finally knew who she really was and how much he just wanted her out of his life, as well as Selina and Alfred's lives, as soon as possible. He felt a small pang of guilt knowing that Alfred was going to get his heart broken in the process, but if that was the only injury he sustains, they'd be lucky.

"Oh, Selina's been up all night tearing the house apart. She lost one of her favorite earrings last night and she started rooting through everything to see if she could find it. She started in the living room. There's stuff everywhere. She'd kill me if I let you both see the house in the state it's in," Bruce lied again. Admittedly, it wasn't one of his best, but it had been a long time since he'd had to lie to Alfred.

"I'm sure it's fine," Sofia said with a sweep of her hand, her bangle bracelets jingling loudly as she waved.

"I don't think…" Bruce started.

"Sofia," Alfred said sternly. It was a tone that Bruce recognized instantly from his oldest friend. He meant business, but all Bruce wanted to do was laugh. It was nice that he was using it on someone else. "Let's leave them; it's early."

However, Sofia seemed immune to the older gentleman's methods. Sofia's face turned into a pout. It seemed she was going to try her own method of getting things done.

Bruce stood awkwardly between the two of them. This was a fight that he didn't want to get in the middle of…for once in his life.

"Sofia, let's just get out of Bruce's way. He's clearly busy and I'd like to get home and putter around in the garden a bit before it gets too hot outside," Alfred said.

"I just want to pop upstairs and thank Selina. Then we can go, Alfie," she said sweetly. "It will only take a second, honey."

Alfred shook his head. He wasn't going to give in. The older gentleman may not have known exactly what was going on, but he knew that he needed to steer Sofia back in the direction of their car. He didn't like the idea of going into their house unannounced in the first place.

"You're no fun," Sofia pouted again. "No fun at all."

Before Bruce could stop it, he laughed out loud. However, he stopped as soon as he started when he noticed the look that he was getting from Alfred. Bruce's face returned to an impassive, stoic look.

"See, Alfie, Bruce agrees with me," Sofia said. "Was he always no fun when you were growing up?" she asked.

"Alfred's always been tons of fun," Bruce replied, siding with his friend. "I don't know what's gotten into him today."

Alfred was still not happy and was still giving both of them dirty looks.

Without warning, Sofia started for the door and was through it before Bruce or Alfred moved.

Alfred began to chase after her while Bruce moved towards the breaker panel on the wall. The power instantly went out and Bruce headed to follow Sofia and Alfred.

Inside the house, Selina still had her headphones plugged into her mp3 player and it was still playing loudly as the light on the table next to her. Quickly, she also noticed that the printer she'd set up on the coffee table stopped printing only a quarter of the way through the page she needed.

"What the hell?" she asked out loud as she pulled the headphones out of her ears.

She heard the door to the garage open and assumed that Bruce had blown the breaker with whatever tools he'd decided to use for their little craft project.

"Bruce, I think you blew a breaker…" she yelled as she walked down the hallway.

"Yeah," Bruce called back. "And Sofia and Alfred are here!" he called.

Selina stopped dead in her tracks.

"They are?" she said as she approached the stairs and looked down. "Oh, look, they sure are," she said, throwing on a smile as quickly as possible.

"Good morning, Selina!" Sofia called.

Selina tugged on the hem of the pajama shirt that she was wearing. It didn't accomplish much, but at least she tried.

"Good morning, Sofia, Alfred," Selina replied.

Sofia started up the stairs, but Selina jogged down them to block her with her entire body.

"The house is a disaster!" Selina said quickly.

"That's what I was telling them, honey," Bruce said. "Did you find that _earring_ you were looking for?" he tried to signal her.

"No, I can't seem to find it anywhere," Selina said as she caught on to his lie. "I hope I didn't lose it outside. I'll never find it. I tried to retrace all of my steps, but I don't even know when it fell out of my ear."

"Maybe you should get a metal detector, darling?" Sofia said. "Was it valuable?"

"They were definitely more sentimental than anything else," Selina replied.

"Oh?" Sofia said, her green eyes never leaving Selina's dark ones.

"Yes, they belonged to my mother. They're the only thing I have left of hers."

"We could help you look…"

"No, no. Come, Sofia. We should just go…" Alfred said, catching onto the fact that they were essentially unwelcome guests at this particular moment.

"You and I need to catch up. We should have another girl's day soon. After the ball, though, I suppose."

"That would be lovely," Selina smiled.

"Thank you _so _much for the trip. It was _just_ wonderful," Sofia said. "So thoughtful."

"I am _very_ glad to hear it," Selina replied in the same tone. "I really wish I could invite you both up for coffee, but we haven't been grocery shopping this week yet, and…"

"Well, Alfie and I just wanted to stop by and thank you both for such a wonderful evening."

"How was the show?" Selina asked. "And the hotel? I heard that it was one of the loveliest in the city."

She would have sent them to the hotel that she and Bruce had stayed at when they had first arrived, but the thought of that poor blonde receptionist that had turned into Harley Quinn's trophy kill always stuck in the back of Selina's mind. Selina had dealt enough with it while she was locked in the basement with her. She didn't feel right sending Alfred to the place. And she could only imagine what had happened once the young woman had finally been found down there. In reality, she didn't even know if the hotel was still open.

"Both terrific!" Sofia said painfully loudly. Her voice was beginning to cause Selina a headache, but it jostled her enough out of her thoughts. "Just wonderful," the woman smiled at her.

Selina smiled. "I'm so glad to hear that."

Sofia turned back to Alfred. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"Selina, it was perfectly wonderful evening. Thank you both so much for thinking of us," Alfred replied, looking back from Selina to Bruce. "Now, we've thanked the both of them, in person, I think it's high time we returned to our own home."

"Thank you so much for stopping by," Selina said.

Sofia nodded. "Believe me, I understand," she said with an odd tone that it seemed like only Selina noticed.

Selina said nothing in response. She simply smiled her fakest, most charming smile in Sofia's direction.

Alfred bundled Sofia up and led her to the front door.

"I do promise to warn you before we arrive next time," Alfred said.

"It's no problem," Selina said. "And I really do apologize for not being able to have you up. I'm embarrassed at how awful it looks right now."

"Well, I do hope you find your jewelry, Selina," Sofia smiled sweetly.

Selina continued to smile back at the older woman. "Like I said, it's just sentimental value, I'm not even sure they were made out anything expensive. Probably just plastic painted silver."

"Well, I hope you find it," Sofia said.

"I think we've intruded enough on them. You can call Selina later, darling," Alfred said, trying to urge the woman out of the front door. "Let us get out of their hair."

"I'll call you later, dear," Sofia smiled again. "It really was a lovely night."

Selina and Bruce both nodded.

And as quickly as they had arrived in the house, Alfred and Sofia were back out at their car. Without a backwards glance, they were in the car and soon out of sight.

Selina made a hissing sound through her teeth as she shut the front door. "What the hell was that?" she asked angrily. But she wasn't mad at Bruce; she was pissed as hell that Sofia was getting to her like that.

Bruce exhaled loudly. "I don't know," he sighed again. "I need to go turn the breakers back on."

"Wait, wait, wait," she said, as he started walking away. "Did they see anything you were working on?" she asked as she followed him out to the garage. She was barefoot and paying no mind to whatever was on the floor.

"Probably not," he said. "Be careful, Selina. There is sharp stuff on the ground."

"I'll be fine," she said, moving around.

Bruce bent down and reached under his rarely used tool chest. It was, of course, the best on the market and stocked with every tool known to man, but most pieces still had never been used. He retrieved the beginnings of his fake gem and held it out for his wife to inspect.

She eyed it suspiciously.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Selina was silent.

"If you think its shit, just tell me."

"You've only been working on it for an hour or so, right?" Selina asked.

"Yes," he said. Bruce sounded frustrated. He wanted to be able to do this for his wife, but if she didn't think it was close enough…

"It looks almost dead-on," Selina smiled. "How did you do it so fast?"

Bruce visibly relaxed.

"You're the gem expert," he said.

"Indeed, I am," Selina replied. "And I think it just needs to be shined up…"

"It doesn't have its setting or chain yet," Bruce said. "So, I need to keep working on it."

"I know, but it's almost perfect already. Who knew you were so amazing at this kind of thing?" Selina said intentionally. She knew she was pushing his buttons and she didn't care.

Bruce's dark eyes narrowed and he watched his wife.

"Excuse me, madam, would you care to say that again?" he asked, closing the garage's side door.

"I would. I knew you were good at all that _detective_ _stuff_ but who knew you actually knew how to use the tools you had to have?" she purred. She saw the look on his face and any other person might have backed down. But Selina only offered her most seductive smile.

Bruce only grunted in response.

"I mean, seriously, who knew you were _so good with your hands?_" she said in a low voice. She leaned back on the hood of the car that Bruce had recently purchased. It was shiny and black and everything that he liked in a motor vehicle. The hemline of Bruce's pajama shirt that she was wearing climbed higher on her thighs.

"Are you _really_ not going to touch me?" she asked.

Bruce was in between her knees in an instant and with one hand moved her further back on the hood of the car.

"Here. Now," he growled in the voice that always sent shivers up her spine.

"Don't leave any dents. The owner might get angry," she purred as he lowered himself on top of her.

"Oh? Is he someone I should look out for?" he asked in her ear.

"Well, _he's_ not. But he has a powerful friend that deals with this kind of thing," Selina replied.

"All the more reason," he countered.

He pulled the hem of her shirt further and found she had nothing underneath.

Bruce's eyes went wide.

"Really?" he asked.

"Do you know who uncomfortable that was?" Selina breathed.

"The whole time Alfred and Sofia…"

"Yup."

A low sound came from somewhere in Bruce's throat.

Without another word from either of them, he started removing his pants and kicked them aside.

His eyes met hers and she silently agreed to what was coming next.

…

Half an hour later, Bruce was inspecting the dents in the hood of his new car.

"Sorry," she purred.

"I'm not," Bruce replied. "Although I am going to have one of hell of a time explaining this to the auto body guy."

"Just tell him the truth," she grinned. "Or I can go with you."

"The reason would be clear, then, I suppose? No explanation needed?"

Selina put her hand out to feel the dent right in the middle of the hood. "I could climb back up and demonstrate for him if you don't think you trust your Italian."

Bruce pulled his wife back up to him for a kiss.

"I kind of like having a car with your ass-print in the hood," he said. "It's definitely a first for me."

Selina looked up at him through her long, dark eyelashes. "Me too."

Bruce gave her a look that she'd never really seen on him before.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said back, flashing Selina his classic billionaire smile. Her knees went weak without explanation, luckily he was still holding onto her waist.

"How much time do I have to finish this?" he asked as he let her go and moved toward the work bench.

"I'd like to leave for the city before dark," she said.

Bruce looked up at the clock on the wall. It was now ten o'clock.

"So, what time do you want me to shoot for?" he asked.

"Three o'clock?" she said.

"Are you asking me or telling me?" he asked.

"Are you purposely trying to be snippy now?" she replied.

"I'm just trying to let you lead this, Selina…as much as I don't like it," he said quietly.

"We're leaving at three," Selina said confidently. "Everything is going to be fine."

Bruce didn't look like he believed her, but said nothing.

"Bruce, it's going to be okay," Selina said, tenderly. "I mean, I'm the one who came up with this genius plan," she smiled. "Now, you should probably get to work. I'm going to go pack my suit."

Bruce's eyebrow quirked at the mention of her suit, but he still said nothing.

"I said, get to work, Mr. Wayne. You don't want to find out what I'm like when we have to deviate from the plan," she said, looking him squarely in the eye.

"Maybe I do," he said back down to her.

His wife gave him a chaste kiss on the mouth before swatting him on the behind gently.

"Get to work, Mr. Wayne," she said before scurrying out of the garage.

Bruce's eyes never left her as she ran out of the garage, over the scraps of metal and whatever else was lying on the cement floor. He probably should have figured she'd be that tough, but Bruce hadn't ever considered it. She didn't even wince as he distinctly saw her catch something shiny in the pad of her foot.

And he knew he should trust her and her plan, and _he did_. But he didn't trust Sofia. He wasn't entirely sure of what she could be capable of.

He shook his head and started back to work on the fake gem. Bruce needed to be ready to help Selina break into a museum and steal the real one later.

A/N: Okay, so there was the next update. I know it's not moving along super quickly, but I PROMISE that there is a plot. Yes, I've actually got a plan this time. Like, a real one.

So, please, everyone that has read this chapter, please leave a review. Send me some feedback for while I'm at work tonight. I love getting ideas for chapters and the like. Anything please.

And finally, thank you to everyone who has already reviewed. Even though I'm kind of terrible at replying to them, let it be known that I appreciate everything you've said. It's so encouraging to me! Thanks!


	7. Chapter 7

Happily Ever After

SEVEN

"They are definitely up to something," Sofia said into her phone. "So we need to find out what that is."

"Do you think she told him about her criminal past?" a man's voice said through the speaker phone.

Sofia was watching Alfred out the window in her office. She knew it was a good idea to make sure the room was sound-proof, but she could speak freely with her partner outside. He was pulling out weeds in their flower garden, just as he said he was going to do. She almost felt bad for the man...almost.

"No, I don't think she would want to jeopardize her future with his money," Sofia said coldly.

"That old man you're shacking up with suspect anything?" the man's voice said.

Sofia whipped around to face the phone. "His name is Alfred, Joseph," she said through clenched teeth. A fleeting thought of real emotion for the old man passed through both her head and her heart, but she shoved it away as quickly as it came.

"My apologies, ma'am," he said sarcastically. "What are my orders?"

"I want four men, that includes you, despite my better judgment right now…" Sofia said.

The man was silent still, waiting for the rest of his instructions.

"I want you to follow them," Sofia told him. "Anytime they leave the house, either one of them. I want every single second of their actions accounted for."

"What exactly are we following them for? What do you expect either of them to do?" Joseph asked.

"I'd rather not relay that information over the telephone, _son_," Sofia said. "I trust you implicitly, but it needs to be discussed in person."

"I'm more than just your _muscle_, mother," he replied. "I'm part of this family, too. And I know full well that you're bullshitting me."

"I know, Joseph darling, but this is terribly important. But mummy doesn't want you to screw it up like you did the last time," Sofia said.

"I told you," he barked through the phone. "I took the blame on the last one because I hired the guy. I didn't personally screw it up."

"That's _your_ opinion, darling," Sofia said softly. "Choose carefully who you take with you. I'm not going to be so forgiving if this gets loused up."

"This is forgiving?" he mumbled.

"You should be careful what you say…"

"Are you going to have me offed like you did dad?" he asked back.

"You're walking a fine line, Joseph," she said.

"You aren't going to deny it?" he asked back.

"Your father was a threat to our way of life," Sofia replied. "And I will no longer discuss this over the phone. Meet me at the usual spot in an hour."

Sofia didn't say anything else. She hung up her phone with a flourish and exited her office and slammed the door closed behind her.

The woman immediately headed for the back door. She needed to tell Alfred that she was going to be gone for the afternoon. Sofia had business to attend to.

"Alfie!" she called as she stepped into the backyard area of her house. Her high heels sunk into the grass as she walked closer to Alfred.

The older man looked up at her from the plant he was tending to. A smile spread across his face as she approached him and Sofia felt the unfamiliar pang of guilt in the center of her chest. She smiled back at the man who was wearing gardening gloves and a visor to keep the sun out of his eyes.

"Hello darling," Alfred said, looking up at her.

"I need to go make sure my dress is ready for the masquerade. I'm going into town for a bit," Sofia explained.

Alfred sat back on his heels and looked up at her. "Would you like me to accompany you?" he asked.

She waved him off. "I'll be fine, Alfie. You stay here and have fun with your garden."

Alfred stood and looked down into her eyes. "You're certain?"

She waved her hand again. "Of course."

Alfred leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "Hurry back, darling," he said, smiling.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Sofia smiled back.

Immediately, she turned on her heel and headed for her car. She had business to attend to.

… … …

Selina and Bruce were in the car, headed for Florence. They'd be into the city within the hour. Bruce said nothing as he drove them further away from their house. He hadn't been that nervous in a long time.

Maybe _nervous_ wasn't the word, but he certainly didn't feel like himself.

He stole a glance at his wife in the passenger seat. Selina was silent behind her sunglasses. She'd been inspecting her nails for the last five miles, not even looking out at the road ahead of them.

"Are you nervous?" he asked, finally breaking the tense silence of their car.

Something had changed in the short couple of hours it took for Bruce to put the finishing touches on the fake leopard gem. After they had made love and gone their separate ways in the house, an air of something ominous settled between them.

Selina finally looked up from her finely manicured red fingernails. She turned her head ever so slightly to look at Bruce, but was careful to not make eye contact behind her sunglasses.

"I don't get nervous," she tried to say as confidently as possible. She'd hoped it came out as a seductive purr, but she doubted her sincerity. Truthfully, she'd been lost in her own thoughts.

"Selina," he said. He knew her; inside and out.

She removed her sunglasses as she turned towards him.

"I'm not worried about getting in and swapping the jewel," she started. "I…are you going to hold this against me for the rest of our lives?"

Bruce was shocked for the second time that day. He didn't know how to respond to Selina.

"You know I'm doing this for us, right?" she asked. "And I wouldn't do this if I thought for one millisecond that it didn't have to be done."

"I know."

"You didn't answer the question."

"How could I ever be mad at you for trying to protect me?" he said.

Selina narrowed her eyes at him. She was unsure of his tone and she didn't like that. Despite the truth of the statement, it was dripping with sarcasm.

"Seriously, Bruce," she said. "I…"

"Selina, I still don't want you to do this, but you're right. I've wracked my brain for weeks trying to come up with something else to deal with Sofia. And as much as I hate to admit it, the only thing we can do is fight back," Bruce said. His voice remained even and calm. He was trying to keep the emotions he was feeling in check; he didn't want Selina to really know what was running through his head.

Bruce Wayne could always be described as moderately paranoid, even though he liked to refer to it as cautiously prepared. Even if the plan he had went to hell, he'd always have several back up plans to put in motion. But with Selina, well, she was a wild card. She was going to do whatever the hell she wanted and whenever she wanted to do it. Bruce loved her for that fact, but it made keeping her safe virtually impossible.

He'd be outside the museum, keeping watch for her and tracking any movement in the museum on the in-house camera system that he'd hack once they got into position. But even being able to relay information to her didn't guarantee that Selina would follow his advice.

"Promise me," Selina said softly.

Bruce took her hand in his as he kept one on the steering wheel. "I promise."

He held her hand in silence for a while longer as they continued on the road.

"Do you want to go over the plan again?" he asked.

Selina smiled. "Do you want me to go over the plan again?"

Bruce smirked, but said nothing.

"The museum closes at seven. There are two guards that patrol and there is a shift change at four in the morning," Selina said. "I want to get there about three, when they're really tired and, if I have to, I'll be able to distract…"

"If they lay a finger on you, I'll…"

Selina continued to smile. "You'll what?" she asked. "Come in there and crack some skulls?"

"_Crack some skulls_?" Bruce repeated. "Is that what I do?"

"What would you call it?" Selina asked. "You'd be rushing in there to fight a couple of lowly security guards. You'd more than likely be cracking their skulls."

"Only if one of them touches you," Bruce said.

Selina arched an eyebrow. "I had no idea you were so jealous."

"I don't get jealous," Bruce said in his distinct growl.

Selina nodded. "Right, uh huh," she said sarcastically. "Noted. However, you do know that if one of those guards touches me, they'll have a broken hand. And they won't even see me, let alone get a chance to touch me."

"You seem confident," Bruce replied.

"It's a simple snatch and grab job, Bruce," Selina said. "Very simple. I've done this a million times…" she trailed off as he glanced over at her. "I just _know_ I can do this, Bruce. I _have_ to do this…for us."

An hour later, they were pulling into the parking lot of the hotel they were going to be staying at. Selina grabbed her purse and her own luggage, much to Bruce's surprise.

He pulled his own bags out of the car and locked it up.

The hotel they'd chosen was one of the ultra-modern models. It was one of the big chain places that wouldn't be trying to shove personalized service into their laps, even if they were staying in one of the penthouse rooms. The couple had been hoping for discretion and as they checked in with the unkind concierge, they knew they'd found it.

Once they'd found their room and hung up their masquerade costumes, Selina sat down on the bed and watched her husband who was back on his laptop already.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

He looked up for a second. "Working."

Selina continued to stare at him with a confused expression.

"What is there to work on? Everything is set," Selina said.

"It's just work," Bruce said. "It's not for tonight."

Selina moved to his side to see what he was doing and he snapped the computer closed before Selina could read what he was doing.

"I thought we weren't going to have any secrets," Selina said. "What is it?"

"I was going to wait until after this was over to tell you," he said.

Selina nodded. "And…?"

"I've been getting encrypted emails from Lucius Fox," he said. "Are you hungry?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Anything important happening at Wayne Enterprises?" she asked. "Or is it classified?"

"He's just informing me of the projects that he's involving the company in. How he's spending the money," Bruce said. "Seriously, are you hungry?" he said, putting his computer down on the ground.

"No, I'm not hungry," Selina replied, trying to get a read on her husband. But he showed no emotion on his face and his mouth was set in a line. Back to the brooding Bruce Wayne.

"You should eat something before we go out tonight," he said, watching her intently.

"We aren't going clubbing, Bruce. I can do what I need to do on an empty stomach. In fact, most of the work I've done like this was _because_ I had an empty stomach," Selina explained.

"Just because you _can_ doesn't mean that you _should_," Bruce said. "I think we should order room service. We don't want your stomach rumbling and echoing in the walls of the museum." He smiled at her with his megawatt smile and some of the apprehension that Selina was trying not to feel disappeared.

"That could be a problem," Selina said, kissing Bruce on his stubbled cheek. "Now, where is the menu?"

…

"Selina," Bruce whispered into her ear.

He'd been watching her sleep for about an hour, when he'd woken up. It was one-thirty and they were going to need shortly. And Bruce didn't know how long it took Selina to get into her suit.

Selina made a low sound in her throat, a sound that did certain things to Bruce and tried to snuggle further into Bruce's chest. If he surrendered to her, they'd never leave and they would miss their chance.

"No, Selina," he said, moving back from her. "It's show time."

One of her eyes opened and looked at him cautiously.

"We have to get ready to go," Bruce said. "You can get more beauty sleep when we're done."

Her other eye opened and she frowned when she saw the look on Bruce's face.

"Hey," Bruce began. "It was your idea to go in the middle of the night."

She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair to tame it. "Shit, I do my _best_ work in the middle of the night," she purred and batted her eyelashes.

"I don't know, Selina. I thought you did pretty decent work this morning on the hood of the car."

She smiled back at her husband. "Just wait."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Bruce said.

Selina stood from the bed and stretched. She was going to need to be limber tonight.

Bruce remained on the bed, watching his wife. He never felt the way he felt when he was with Selina. He was proud of her and in love with her and terrified of losing her all in one jumbled feeling. The anxiety that had dissipated when she was napping against his chest was back in full force. He said nothing else to Selina as she began to unzip her bag.

His eyes continued to follow her around the room as she set out her suit, her boots and her goggles. The last thing that came out of her bag was her belt, which he'd made a couple of helpful additions to: a grappling gun and a couple of batarangs that he'd kept just in case.

Selina started to remove her clothes in front of Bruce and he still said nothing.

Standing in only her panties and bra, she put her hand on her hip.

"Bruce," she said. "You're not even enjoying the show," she said, trying to distract him.

He fixed a smile on his face, but Selina knew it didn't mean anything.

"I'm standing here, almost naked, and I get nothing? Not even a wolf-whistle from my loving husband?" she asked. "And this is a new bra. I was going for the Vegas showgirl look," she said, referring to her hot pink bra with rhinestones. "At least I'll look good if the boys in blue pick me up."

Bruce forced a laugh and moved to the edge of the bed.

Selina turned around and picked up her suit from the chair. Bending over, she pulled it up over her legs. Bruce let out a breath of air from behind her. It was an appreciative sound. Turning around, she stepped in front of her husband and smiled.

"It is going to be fine, Bruce. It's going to only take ten minutes," Selina said. "Ten minutes. Maybe not even that long. And when I'm done, we can celebrate," she finished as she put her arms through the sleeves.

Her hands moved to the zipper that ran down the center of her suit, but Bruce pushed them away. He pressed his lips to her stomach before moving his own hands to the zipper pull. Bruce stood as he continued to zip her up, all the way to her chin.

"I love you," he said, pressing his lips to hers.

It was desperate, much like the kiss they'd shared before he'd flown the Bat over the bay.

When they broke apart, Selina was breathless and she stood still, just staring at him.

"I love you, too," she said. "Now," she smiled. "Quit distracting me or I'll never leave this hotel room."

They both finished their preparations to leave the room. Selina kept the safety covers over the serrated heels of her boots as she pulled them on. She didn't need people remembering them as she was leaving the hotel. Even if it was the middle of the night.

Standing in front of the door, Bruce adjusted the collar of her long trench coat. He didn't want anyone to see any part of his wife.

"If you're like this just so people don't see my suit, I can't wait until we have a daughter and she wants to go out on a date," Selina said.

Bruce stopped what he was doing and stared at her with his mouth open.

"Ready?" she smiled. Bruce said nothing. "I'll take your silence as a yes."

Once they'd reached their destination, Bruce pulled the car to a stop and cut the engine.

"Last chance to change your mind," he said.

"I think it's a bit late for that," Selina replied.

"Remember, stick to the shadows. As soon as you're in, I'll cut the closed circuit televisions so no one sees you," Bruce said.

Selina smiled and pulled the goggles over her eyes.

"This isn't my first time, Bruce," she said.

Selina planted a chaste kiss on his lips and exited from the car, closing the door quietly behind her.

She blew a kiss back at Bruce before beginning her walk to the museum. He watched her lean form disappear from sight and waited to hear her voice come through the communication devices.

"I'm at the west wall. Starting the climb," she said.

Bruce opened his laptop and the information he needed booted up. He checked the time. She should be almost to the roof.

Gracefully, she was scaling the wall in complete shadow. She purposely picked this wall for that reason. She made no sound as the pointed toes of her boots found footholds that no one else in their right mind would be able to see, let alone, use. Selina knew even Bruce would have one hell of a time with this wall.

"Are you on the roof yet?" his voice asked, almost desperately, in her ear.

"No…almost," she said quietly. "Now I know why you prefer grappling hooks."

"I'm just disappointed to not be watching you climbing the wall."

"May some other time, big fella," she purred.

Her voice made him smile, in spite of the situation at hand.

"I'm here. The roof access ladder is twenty feet away. But I think I'm going to use the ventilator shaft," Selina said.

"Selina…" Bruce said in a warning tone.

"Hey, that's the plan, Mr. Wayne," she said. "Check your info."

As much as he hated to admit it, she was right.

Bruce checked the schematics she had left him and sure enough, the plan used the vent in the roof, not the actual roof access.

"I see you've actually planned ahead."

"I'm surprised you didn't check that first."

"I got distracted," he said, alluding to their earlier encounter on the hood of the car.

"Why, Mr. Wayne, I thought you were more careful than that," she said. He could tell she was smiling.

"Are you in yet?" he asked.

Selina giggled. "That's what she said?" she tried to say in an innocent voice.

"Selina…" he growled.

"I just crawled into the vent shaft," she said. "Relax."

"Just get back to me in one piece," he growled again.

"Someone's grouchy tonight," she muttered.

Bruce pulled up his blueprints of the museum.

"You're sure the vent doesn't have motion detectors?"

"This place was built _way_ before motion detectors were invented, Bruce. That's why it has such weak entry points."

"Wayne Manor has motion detectors."

"That's because you're paranoid. And you still had weak entry points…"

"Are you referring to Alfred?" he asked.

"I'm just saying that any of those other maids could have been robbing you blind in the other parts of the house," Selina said.

"And Alfred would have…"

"_Would_ he have noticed something like a singular piece of flatware going missing each week? Lots of things can happen to silverware," Selina replied.

"Did you steal a bunch of Wayne silverware when you took the pearls, too?" Bruce asked.

Selina could hear the humor in his voice.

"Oh, Mr. Wayne, I'm way above stealing flatware from reclusive billionaires with extremely long fingernails and who pee in jars," she grinned.

Selina continued to shimmy through the air duct. She was counting the distance as she joked with her husband. It shouldn't be much further. In fact, it should be right about here.

Selina opened the panel she needed and peered down. She was directly over the jewel in its case.

She was lucky that it had a room to itself. It had a lot less security than pieces that were always out on the floor for public viewings.

She eyed the jewelry with a discerning eye. It had to be fairly impressive in a normal viewing, but from where she peered down, it was a minor gem in the grand scheme of thievery.

"It's not much from this point of view," she whispered.

"Well, you are, what, twenty feet above it?" Bruce replied.

"Give or take a few inches," Selina said. She looked around the room, looking for the heat signature of a security camera or any other motion detectors. This room had nothing she could see.

"I don't see any cameras in here, Bruce," she said. "I'm going down."

Selina lowered the rope she had brought with her and she began to slide down it. Her heels hit the ground silently and Selina moved to the glass case housing the infamous leopard diamond.

"Touchdown," she whispered.

"Check the case for pressure sensors," Bruce said.

Selina rolled her eyes. "I already have, sir," Selina sighed. "Really…I have done this before."

"I think we've established that," he retorted.

"You're hilarious," she said with no humor in her voice this time. "Let me focus."

Selina removed the fake leopard gem from her belt and inspected it in the dim light of the room. It was completely indistinguishable from its real counterpart. Holding the necklace in her left hand, she used her right to open the case's glass door. It unlatched easily, and luckily, made no noise despite its old hinges.

Selina carefully picked up the real gem and turned it over. Nothing happened. No alarms or lights. No sounds of rushing footsteps. No electric nets falling from the ceiling in a comical fashion. Just nothing.

"I knew it," Selina hissed.

The woman in black continued to inspect the two necklaces, looking for any imperfection that could cause someone to notice the difference between them. Selina had an eye for this and nothing was catching it. It should definitely be fine for the day and a half that it was to sit here.

Selina finished removing the necklace from the decorative bust on which it was displayed in the case and wrapped it carefully. She put it in the now empty pocket in her belt and focused on putting the fake in its place.

Closing the display case's door, she smiled with satisfaction. "Done," she said with a smile.

"Good," Bruce said. "Get out of there."

"I…" she started, but she was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. And the sound was moving closer to her current location.

"I've got company," she whispered.

Out in the car, Bruce froze.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you _think_ I mean?" she replied.

Selina listened to the sound of the voices that were drifting closer as well. They were speaking Italian and Selina was trying to translate.

"Three voices," Selina said to her husband.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

There was radio silence for a thirty second period of time. Bruce had his hand on the door handle and was ready to bolt from the car.

"Yes," she finally answered. "Three distinct male voices. And they're discussing the security of the _diamante leopardo._"

"Do you have time to get back up the rope and into the vent?" he asked.

Selina tugged on the rope to her left and it came down to rest in a pile at her feet. She stared down in disbelief as the door handle started to turn.

"Nope," she whispered.

…

A/N: Okay! So there was the extremely long update. What do you all think? Let me know! Thanks!


	8. Chapter 8

Warning: This chapter is rated M. So if you don't like "grown up" stuff or if you are 17 or younger, you might want to avoid this chapter. And please don't hate me too much for it…

**Happily Ever After**

**EIGHT**

"Selina," Bruce said calmly. "Is there more than one door?"

"You already know the answer to that question," Selina hissed quietly.

The handle of the door continued to turn and the door started to open. Selina backed into the darkest corner of the room, holding the coiled rope against her side.

Without warning, alarms started ringing from somewhere in the opposite end of the building.

The men, who Selina figured had to be security guards, left the door ajar and she listened to the sound of three men running down the hall in the opposite direction.

She breathed a silent breath of relief.

"Selina, get out of there," Bruce said. "That'll only keep them occupied until they realize there's just a glitch in their system."

"That was you?" Selina said as she was staring up at the air duct that she'd been using as a hallway. It was too far for her to be able to throw the rope up to and secure so she could use it to climb.

"Shit," she hissed as she made this realization.

"What?" Bruce asked. "Talk to me."

"I can't get back up to the air duct," Selina said. "My rope fell down."

"Use the grappling gun; that is what it's for."

Selina narrowed her eyes and then looked back down at her belt. The handle of the piece of equipment glinted in the dim light of the room.

"Don't think, just do, Selina."

"I need to hide the real one, Bruce," she said.

"Then do it and get out," Bruce replied. "Don't waste any more time."

Selina didn't want to be there any longer anyway. But there was no place that would be safe enough to leave the gem. She was going to have to take it with her.

She didn't waste another single second. Selina pulled the grappling gun from its place in her belt and she aimed it at the exposed air duct in the ceiling. The pointed end punctured the metal and the hooks expanded. Tugging on the cord, she tested its strength. She didn't trust it completely, but since _the Batman_ used it, it was probably safe for her.

She pushed another button on the handle of the gun and she was pulled upwards. She swung her body upwards and into open panel in the ductwork. She replaced the panel and started to high-tail it back to the roof.

"What's your location, Mrs. Wayne?" Bruce asked impatiently.

"En route to the roof," Selina replied. "ETA is one-minute."

She wasn't nearly as graceful as she clamored through the air ducts. Selina didn't have the luxury of taking her time for her exit like she thought she would.

At last, after what felt like miles of ductwork, she found the vertical shaft she'd jumped down. Stretching upward, her fingertips found the edge of the roof. She would be really sore later, but she pulled up and the rest of her body obeyed her.

"I'm on the roof," she said. She was out of breath and the muscles in her shoulders and arms were screaming in pain, but she was outside.

She felt the cooler nighttime air hit her face and Selina took a deep breath.

"Get down here, then," Bruce said.

Bruce could almost feel his blood pressure lower. Bruce had never been this anxious when he went out alone. But this was a whole new ball game. So much more was on the line now and he was unwilling to give this new life up.

He was wrenched from his thoughts as the car door was pulled open. His surprise must have registered on his face.

"Did you miss me?" she purred as she slid gracefully into the passenger seat next to her husband.

Bruce checked the time he had running. "Nine minutes, twenty-nine seconds," he read to her.

"I told you I wouldn't need ten minutes," she smiled. "Here, take this," she said, handing the necklace to Bruce.

"Hold on, I thought you were leaving it inside the museum for safe-keeping," he said as he held it by the cloth she'd wrapped it in.

"The plan had to change," she said. "It's called being adaptable. Let's get out of here."

Bruce wrapped the rare gem back up and set it carefully into one of the car's cup holders. He turned the key in the ignition and soon they were headed back to their hotel.

Both Selina and Bruce were silent for the entire ride back. Neither of them really knew what to say anymore.

Selina pulled the goggles from her head and held them in her lap. She stared straight out the windshield as Bruce drove them away.

She had promised herself that she wasn't going to steal anymore. Way back when she'd silently prayed that Bruce was okay after the bomb had gone off over the bay. And now, she'd been backed into a corner and she returned to her old habits. Selina couldn't ignore the adrenaline rush as she held the real necklace in her hand. Would she ever really be able to give it up?

As they pulled into the parking lot, Selina pulled herself into the tossed aside trench coat. She made sure that her heels were sheathed once more and Bruce cut the engine.

They both stared down at the necklace that was shoved into a cup holder. It had been worn by Cleopatra and Marie Antoinette and now it was in their car. And Selina never wanted to see it again.

"We can't leave it out here," Bruce told her. And he was right, but Selina didn't like taking it inside the hotel.

"I don't want to be anywhere near the damn thing," Selina hissed.

"Well, it can't stay out here. It would be totally unsafe."

"Whatever," Selina replied before climbing out of the vehicle. It was almost four in the morning and she just wanted to sleep.

Bruce was honestly confused. But he carefully rolled up the piece of jewelry and pushed it into his pocket. He gathered the rest of his things before locking the car and joining his wife by the door to the hotel.

"Let's just get upstairs. I want to go to bed," she said, suddenly very tired.

The two of them quietly walked into the hotel lobby and over to the elevators. The concierge didn't even bother to look up from his game of solitaire.

Once they were finally in the hotel room, Selina immediately found what she brought to sleep in and rushed to the bathroom. She locked the door behind her and stared into the mirror over the sink.

"What was happening? She shouldn't be emotional about a piece of jewelry. Particularly a piece of jewelry she had zero intention of keeping. In less than 24 hours, the museum would have it back and she and Bruce would be a step further from Sofia and her scheme.

So why was she virtually unable to look herself in the eye in the mirror?

Bruce has watched his wife hightail it out of the main living space of the hotel room and heard the lock click into place. He still had the gem in his pocket. He knew Selina had no intention of keeping the thing. She had turned that corner. She was doing it to stop Sofia.

He took his jacket off and hung it up before moving to the bathroom door. Bruce made short work of the simple lock and the door swung open.

Selina stood, mildly surprised and amused, and Bruce opened the door.

She put a mask of indifference on her face as Bruce looked at her.

"Everything all right?" he asked.

"Ever heard of knocking?" she replied. "Remind me, when I'm less tired, to discuss boundaries with you, Bruce Wayne. Or is that a conversation I need to have with Batman?"

"Selina, what's wrong?" He could tell by her defensive body language that something was wrong and her words and tone only added to his concern. She wasn't fine.

"I was just getting ready for bed. Just needed a couple minutes to myself…wash my face, brush my teeth…"

"Your make up is still on and your toothpaste is in the other room," Bruce replied. "You left it on the floor when you ran in here."

"Just drop it, okay? I'm not in the mood to have a serious conversation with you right now. Let it all go."

She hadn't even changed out of her suit in the ten minutes she'd stood in the bathroom. Selina tried to move past the bathroom. Selina tried to move past him, to leave the space, but Bruce blocked her path.

The space between the two of them changed immediately. Bruce's stare was almost burning her as she met his gaze. And in an instant, her lips were on his.

Bruce wrapped his hands around his wife's slender waist and pulled her to him. Selina could feel his muscles flexing against her through her thin suit.

His hands swiftly undid the clasp that was holding the utility belt on her hips and it clattered to the ground at their feet.

Selina was content to have Bruce, right then and there, up against the door frame of the bathroom as his hands started unzipping her suit. His lips followed his hands and she moaned involuntarily. She was distracted enough that Bruce started to inch her back towards the bed.

However, it was clear she wasn't moving fast enough for Bruce. He picked her up a second later and carried her to the bed. Bruce laid her down gently and moved to her left leg.

"When his is all over," he started softly. "I'm going to figure out a suit that doesn't require these boots to come off first," he said hoarsely.

Selina said nothing as his hands expertly massaged the calf of the recently un-booted leg. He pressed his lips to the top of her left foot and moved over to the right leg.

As soon as Selina's right leg was free of the boot, she immediately felt the urge to completely free of the rest of the suit. She needed out and she needed it as quickly as possible.

"Bruce," she barely choked out as he pressed his lips to the top of each breast.

He made a small, yet appreciative, humming sound and moved his eyes, and only his eyes to look up at her.

"Bruce…now…" she urged, finding her voice a little more usable this time, but just barely.

His tongue replaced his lips and then suddenly he was blowing on the moist skin. Selina shivered; she couldn't help it.

It was clear Bruce was going to keep up with the torture, so she was going to have to take matters into her own hands.

She used all of her weight as leverage and flipped Bruce onto his back. He looked up at her with wide eyes, but a smile crossed his lips.

"I need out of this suit," she said urgently.

Selina had Bruce's arms pinned down on either side of him with her legs as she straddled him. She wasn't sure if he was pretending that he couldn't get up or if it were a real struggle, but Selina was able to free both of her arms from the suit.

"I think I like Vegas showgirl," he said as he looked at her in the rhinestone bra. "Maybe you should wear more pink."

Selina laughed. "Not a chance."

She could feel Bruce, ready to go underneath her. She was still stuck in the bottom part of her suit.

"Stand up," Bruce said instantly. It was in the Batman voice that did crazy things to her and she immediately did as she was told.

Selina stood, her bare feet on either side of him and he pulled on the fabric of the suit that was bunched at her hips. It came down her legs and pooled at her ankles. She gracefully removed the last of the clothing and she surveyed her husband.

"You're behind," she purred as she straddled him again.

One of his hands fisted in her hair and the other on her hip. He pulled her towards him and their lips connected in another bruising kiss. The way his hand held her side, she knew she would have actual bruises later, but it didn't matter.

Selina found the hem of his shirt and pushed it up just enough to find his belt buckle. They continued to kiss as Selina fought with the button and zipper on his pants. She stopped kissing him only to give him a chance to shift.

Bruce took this chance and soon he was back on top. He was kicking his jeans away and his boxer briefs came next. While he was ridding himself of his shirt, Selina was tugging her panties down her thighs.

"Are these new, too," he asked as he watched her undress greedily.

"No, I…"

He didn't wait for her to finish her statement. He had the scrap of fabric in his hand and the elastic snapped. He tossed them aside and made eye contact with his wife again.

"Taking. Too. Long," he panted as she shifted her hips up against him. Selina's body needed relief and it was driving Bruce crazy.

Selina's eyes rolled back into her head as she let Bruce decide on the pace. She couldn't stifle the scream that it caused. It was four in the morning; she was going to wake the whole hotel. And Bruce didn't give a damn.

… … …

Sofia awoke with a start. Alfred was sleeping soundly next to her still. She looked around the room. It was very early in the morning, but the sun hadn't come up yet. Her eyes focused on the clock: four-fifteen.

She decided she needed to get a glass of water.

Creeping out of the quiet bedroom, she headed to the kitchen and then to her office.

Her cell phone had a message blinking on it. There was no sender, but the message read: _Still not home._

She knew who it was from and dialed the phone.

"Where are they if they aren't home? Alfred is the only person they know in Italy. I'm sure of it," Sofia barked.

"They aren't home. The house sat dark all night, Joseph informed her through the phone.

"If you would have started monitoring them when I told you to, this wouldn't be a problem. We could have followed them," Sofia hissed. "I knew I should have hired proper…"

"What, mother? Proper what?" he growled.

"Proper henchmen!" she yelled. Her door was closed and she was confident that Alfred couldn't hear her. "Search the house."

"The sun's coming up. I'm not breaking and entering in the daylight. They _do_ have neighbors."

"Well, tonight is the masquerade ball. And you have to be there with me."

"I'm _not_ checking the house. Maybe they went for a night to celebrate. Maybe they died in a car accident, maybe…"

"I'm not that lucky," she said snidely. "Fine. Go get some sleep. And make sure your tuxedo is ready for tonight. Remember, you need to get her alone."

"I'm looking forward to it," Joseph said back. "See you tonight, mother," he finished before he hung up the phone.

"What are they up to?" Sofia said to the quiet of her office. She was certainly going to find out.

… … …

A/N: okay, so there was the very next update. A little BatCat romance…well, smut, just in time for Valentine's Day or Single's Awareness Day, whatever you choose to call it. Anyway, let me know what you thought.

And soon, they'll actually be at the masquerade. Who isn't interested to see how Selina can swap out a necklace in a room full of people?

Thanks are due as always! You're all my favorite people!


	9. Chapter 9

Happily Ever After

NINE

Selina rolled over in bed and attempted to curl into her husband. However, the only thing she found was cold sheets. The woman sighed heavily and attempted to rouse herself from the warm bed. It took a full minute for her to realize where she was: a hotel room in Florence and then she remembered why she was there in the first place. She blinked into the brightness of the room, caused by the open curtains.

Selina didn't see Bruce in the bedroom, so after checking the time (noon) she flopped back on the pillows. Despite sleeping for seven hours, she felt like she didn't get nearly enough sleep during the previous night. She figured she could sleep for a little while longer before she needed to get up and get ready for the party.

"Selina?" Bruce called from the living area of the hotel suite.

She sighed, a little less audibly this time.

"I heard you," he said. "We should probably work on the plan for tonight."

"It's only noon, Bruce. We have time. I want to sleep…" she whined.

"We need to make sure everything is set for the party," he said as he walked into the bedroom. "And I don't want us running late."

Selina narrowed her eyes. "I've done a lot of things in my life, Bruce Wayne. But I have not been late for a single one of them and I don't intend on starting now."

Bruce knew he would be playing with fire, but held firm. He knew how she couldn't stay mad at him forever. Well, she probably could, but the likelihood of that was extremely small and he was willing to play with those odds.

Selina and Bruce continued their stare down for another good minute or so before Selina decided to just give in this once. She climbed out of the bed and stretched her whole body. She wanted to make sure that her husband was watching her and inspecting each curve of her body.

After an appropriate amount of time standing completely nude, with Bruce's eyes glued to her, she found some clothes and dressed.

"You missed breakfast," he told her once he'd regained his voice.

He led her to the living room, where his breakfast dishes sat empty on the side table. Her eyes moved to the coffee table, which was completely covered in blueprints, diagrams and Bruce's scribbled handwriting.

"I think you might be losing it, honey," Selina purred as she ran a hand down his cheek.

"You know I don't want to do this," Bruce said. "I don't want to do this. And I don't want to do this the wrong way."

Selina sighed and then smiled. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you, but I'll tell you again: I don't want to do this either. But it's going to be okay."

Bruce walked around into the kitchen, out of Selina's line of sight without another word. He returned a moment later with a pedestal and bust in his hands. He wordlessly set the pedestal down and then placed the bust on top of it.

"You can show me," Bruce said.

Selina's eyebrow raised, but she said nothing. She only looked at her husband.

"Seriously, Selina; I want you to show me your plan."

She laughed. "I don't show anyone how I work."

Bruce didn't think it was funny.

"Oh, you're serious," Selina said, immediately ceasing her laughing.

Bruce ran a hand through his hair to brush it out of his eyes. "Of course I'm serious."

"You _really_ want me to show you how I intend to put the real piece back?" Selina said. "Wouldn't you rather not know? I mean, so you could plead the fifth if that's what it came down to?" she asked.

"I thought you weren't going to have a problem with this."

"I'm not, but I almost think…I…I don't think I want to tell you," she said.

"We're married; we aren't supposed to have secrets," he said.

Selina watched him; she needed to know what his thought process was behind this.

"Come on, Selina," he said.

"Fine," she replied. "It's a bit like a magician revealing her secrets, but…" she trailed off.

Bruce said nothing.

Selina retreated to their room and returned a moment later with a couple pieces of her own jewelry. She didn't want to handle the leopard diamond any more than she had to. And she wanted to make sure the only fingerprints on it belonged to Sofia.

She placed the first necklace on the bust, admiring the quality of it. For it being acquired as a prop, it looked extremely expensive.

"Where did you get this?" she asked.

"It's a bit like a magician revealing his secrets," Bruce replied, no humor in his voice.

Selina rolled her eyes.

"Where'd you borrow it from?" she smiled at him as she walked around the bust and it's pedestal.

"It might have been the lobby of the hotel," he said, never taking his eyes off of her. "Now, Selina."

"What?" she smiled sweetly. She held up the necklace that she had originally attached to the bust and swung it back and forth.

Bruce's eyes went to the bust and he stared down at a completely different necklace around the marble statue's neck. He had never taken his eyes away from her and she never even moved her hands, or so he thought.

He had been confident in his wife's abilities before, but now he smiled with satisfaction.

"Sleight of hand, Bruce," Selina said. "I would have figured you would already know it and have it perfected."

"I do better with theatricality," Bruce said off-handedly.

"So, you weren't a magician in a past life?" she asked. When she got no response, she added, "Did I pass? Because I need to go get my nails done."

He nodded, still trying to comprehend how she'd done it. But in reality, it didn't matter; it only mattered that _had_ done it. Granted, it was going to be much more difficult in a room with hundreds more pairs of eyes, but if _he_ couldn't tell how she'd done it, the chances of the drunken elites being able to tell were slim-to-none.

He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms. Bruce kissed her breathless before releasing her.

"You can't keep doing that," Selina laughed. "We'll never leave the room. And any other time that would be fine, except our way of life is at stake and I'm not ready to give it up to some crazy old lady."

"Well put, as ever, Mrs. Wayne," Bruce said. "Where are you going to get your nails done?"

"I figured I would ask the concierge," Selina said. "You need to make sure your tux isn't wrinkled while I'm going. There is no way I'm going to a fancy party like this with you looking a mess, Mr. Wayne," she smiled.

Despite her constant smile, she was starting to get nervous. The adrenaline from first successfully replacing the real one with the fake and then making love to her husband the night before was almost gone and fear, real fear, of failing tonight was taking over. Sure, she could pull off the little pick-pocketing in their hotel room, when it was just Bruce, but what about the security guards that were surely going to be around the gem during the party?

She wasn't about to let Bruce see her fears though. Selina wanted him to think she was completely invulnerable to such things.

"My tuxedo is just fine," he said. He'd purchased it when they started making a real home for themselves, but this was the first occasion he had to wear it. It had been years since he'd put a tux on and the idea of it bothered him slightly.

In fact, the last time he'd worn a real tux was the night that the Joker had invaded his penthouse party for Harvey Dent. After that situation unfolded, he'd rarely worn anything besides sweatpants.

Shaking himself from that train of thought, he focused back on his wife who was opening her dress bag and shaking out the fabric of the dress she intended to wear that night.

She hadn't let him see it when she bought it; and he actually listened to her when she told him he wasn't allowed to peek. Seeing just the dress now, he couldn't wait for her to have it on.

"So, that's your dress?" he asked, the answer obvious.

She nodded. "It cost a small fortune."

"It's a good thing we have a large fortune."

"Yes, it is."

"When this whole thing is over in a few hours, I can't wait to take that off of you," Bruce said, his voice becoming darker and more gravely.

Selina slipped a pair of flats on her feet and pulled her hair back into a ponytail; she was trying to ignore the effect that his voice was having on her entire body. She made no eye contact with him as she searched the room for her purse.

"I'm sure as good as it's going to look on you, it'll look better on the floor," he continued.

Selina finally looked up at him and he was eyeing her hungrily. "If I don't go right now, Bruce, I'll never leave and then Sofia will end up hunting us down and killing us. And that thought doesn't make me horny," she said. "Go take a cold shower."

She kissed him chastely on the lips before escaping out of the lion's den that was their hotel room.

When she returned to the hotel room an hour later with freshly painted red fingernails and a pedicure to boot, Selina found she was all alone. A note from Bruce was on the foot of the bed.

_Be back by 5._

Selina smiled. And immediately went to the bathroom to start getting ready for the party.

True to his word, Bruce returned to their room at exactly 5 pm.

"Selina?" he called.

He knew that she was back, her shoes were kicked off in the hallway and her purse lay abandoned on the coffee table amongst his papers and notes. That was when he noticed that her sunglasses were on the bust. He laughed until his wife walked out into the living room. She was dressed only in, what Bruce would describe as a corset that cinched in her waist and pushed her chest up to her chin.

He blew out air through his teeth and tried to control himself. But he couldn't help his eyes wander down the length of her body and back up again.

"Nice haircut," she said, immediately noticing the trim and shave.

"Nice outfit," he replied. "I think if you've changed your mind about what you're going to wear tonight, the inconspicuous route isn't going to work," Bruce said, crossing the room to pull her into his arms.

"I got you something," he said, handing her a black velvet box.

She narrowed her eyes at him, but accepted the box anyway. Curiosity got the best of her and she opened it. A double-finger ring with three stones stared back up at her.

"It's beautiful, Bruce, but what is it for?" she asked.

Bruce took the box from her and pulled the ring out. "It's a _just because I felt like it_ gift," he answered her. He slid it on her middle and ring fingers of her right hand; it fit perfectly. "I hadn't intended on it, but I saw it and it reminded me of brass knuckles."

Selina looked up from the ring on her hand and laughed. "I could do some serious damage with this," she smiled. "And that's my birthstone and yours, but what's…"

"The month of our anniversary. I know it's corny, but they hand-set it for me today and I needed to pick a third stone. I thought that maybe we could replace it with a baby's birthstone someday."

Selina was stunned into silence.

"You've surprised me yet again, Bruce Wayne," she said.

"What do you think?"

"About the ring or the idea with the birthstone?" she asked.

"Both," he said as he touched the lace trim at her thigh.

"I love both. And I especially love you," she said before kissing him. "You need to get dressed. I have a priceless gem I need to put back in a museum before I can make love to my husband tonight and I'd like to speed it up so I can get back to do that."

"It's a noble cause," he said. "I hope your husband realizes the sacrifices you're making."

"I think he does. He is a damn smart man."

"And awfully lucky."

"That, too."

… … … …

The masquerade ball was in full swing when Bruce led Selina through the gilded museum doors. Selina put a hand to her face to make sure her mask was secure before she surveyed the room.

Eyes were turning towards them and Bruce immediately noticed. Although, it was certainly not because of him; he was wearing a simple tuxedo and bowtie. He knew he looked okay, but not as amazing as his wife. The woman on his arm was dressed in a floor length sequined black gown that sparkled every single time she took a breath. He wasn't sure how the thin straps kept the dress on her, but he wasn't about to go questioning the mechanics and construction of the dress; he was content with knowing he had the most beautiful date in all of Italy.

"Do you see Alfred and Sofia?" Selina asked.

Bruce looked around, adjusting his vision around his own mask.

"Nine o'clock and incoming," he said to her.

Selina nodded and smiled, squeezing her husband's hand. "When they get over here, you and Alfred should go get us drinks and leave Sofia and I," Selina said.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"Sofia can't know that you're in on this, honey," Selina said. "Seriously, you have to go. Sofia just needs to see me do this, not you."

"You waited until now to tell me this," Bruce said.

"Yes, I did. Because I knew you would be like this. Just…"

"Oh, my goodness, Selina darling, you look amazing!" Sofia shouted. "I'm so glad you're here. I need to speak with her, you know, girl talk," she offered to Bruce. "You understand, right?" she smiled under her mask.

But before Bruce could respond, Sofia tugged Selina away, leaving Alfred and Bruce staring in their wake.

"I need you to get this done, right now," Sofia said. Gone was the fake voice she used and it had been replaced with a hard edge. "I want that gem."

Selina nodded. "I want you to have the gem," she offered.

"And your husband knows nothing about this?" Sofia said as they strolled towards the center of the room where the necklace was located.

"Of course not!" Selina said. "Do you think he'd still be married to me if I told him what I used to do?"

They were right next to the display when they stopped. One large guard stood ignoring them as they admired the bust on the pedestal.

"What are you waiting for?" Sofia hissed into Selina's ear.

But Selina was already tucking the fake gem into Sofia's hand.

"What?" Sofia said, looking down.

"You'll want to be careful with that, it's hundreds of years old," Selina whispered back to the woman.

"Perfect!" Sofia shouted. "Now we can enjoy the party!" she said to Selina. But there was something in her voice that immediately made Selina unhappy. Something wasn't right. She just needed to figure it out.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Please review!


	10. Chapter 10

Happily Ever After

Chapter 10

The masquerade ball continued as well as could be expected. They'd been there for at least two hours and it was starting to really get going. The music blared from a live band that was playing everything from classical pieces, jazz numbers and instrumental versions of some top 40 hits. The guests, all dressed in elaborate masks and some in costume, all danced, drank and laughed around them.

Selina knew something was wrong with the way Sofia reacted. She had expected a certain amount of excitement from the woman, as well as a bit of disbelief. But the evil smile that Sofia wore as she looked at Selina was definitely chilling. Selina wanted to pull her aside and find out what the next task was going to be, however she wasn't quick enough.

Alfred pulled Sofia away from Selina shortly after she'd performed the impossible and had been twirling her around the dance floor since. Sofia had socked what she thought was the real Diamante Léopardo away in her purse and smiled widely as she enjoyed the night in Alfred's arms.

Bruce Wayne, on the other hand, was not enjoying the night. He'd pretended to not notice the evil smile that had spread across Sofia's face. He'd continued to pretend to not notice how happy Alfred was as he danced with her. He knew, sooner or later, Alfred was going to get hurt and he hated that it was going to his fault again. Well, not specifically his fault, but it felt like his fault just the same considering the circumstances.

Besides all that, he'd given up enjoying these parties many years ago. Bruce had kept up with them because it worked for him and his drunken, womanizing, party-boy image. Even now, he only stuck to half a glass of wine at most, preferring to let Selina do the drinking if she chose to.

Anyone watching Selina would have thought she was being shifty and nervous. But Bruce watched her sip her champagne and put on her show. It was a carefully orchestrated performance and it was for one person specifically. Selina was making sure that Sofia didn't think she was too confident. She was playing Sofia like Sofia thought she was playing Selina.

Selina wasn't really anxious about the whole situation. She knew anything and everything could be blamed on Sofia when it came down to it. But she couldn't shake the feeling that someone or _many someones_ were watching her and her husband. It was hard to tell with all the masked faces, but she was positive that a man on the other side of the room was watching her every move.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Bruce stepped out to use the restroom and left Selina alone. The man in the ornate gold mask immediately crossed the packed room and held out a gloved hand to Selina.

"Would you care to dance, my lady?" he asked.

Selina caught the strong Italian accent and tried to read his body language while he waited for her response.

"I don't think so, but thank you," Selina said, looking past him for her husband. "I don't think my husband would like that very much."

"You have very beautiful eyes," he said, ignoring her answer. "One dance, that's all I ask. My heart will break if I don't have one dance with you."

Bruce was still out of sight as Selina tried to find him. Sighing, she nodded.

"One quick dance," Selina replied, holding out her hand.

The mysterious man took her hand and led her out on to the dance floor. At first he held her at arm's length, being a proper gentleman, but soon he had led her off into a quiet corner.

"What the hell?" she said as she struggled at his grasp.

"You're beautiful," he said again.

"Well, thank you, but I think I'll be getting back to my husband now," Selina replied. She started to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back against him.

"Excuse me," she said angrily.

He was easily stronger than her and he pinned her to the wall before kissing her hard.

Selina was stunned for a moment before she put all of her strength into bringing her knee up against his groin. He bit her lip by accident and she screamed in reaction to the pain.

Bruce heard her and he found her in the corner with the man. The guy in the gold mask was on the ground, writhing pain from Selina's knee and Selina was holding her lip as it bled.

"What the hell happened?" Bruce asked as he looked back and forth at the two of them. "Who the hell are you?" his voice getting rough as he saw the blood coming from his wife's face.

"Bruce, I'm fine," she said. "Let's just get out of here."

Bruce shook his head. "No, I'm going to…"

Selina put her hand on his arm to try and calm him down. "No, you're not. Let's just get out of here," she said. "I'm ready to go home anyway."

The man on the floor still said nothing; he only grinned madly at the both of them.

Bruce pushed Selina back and kneeled down in the masked man's face. He pulled the mask off and threw it aside. The man laughed in Bruce's face, but gave them no information. This made Bruce angrier.

"He's clearly drunk," Selina said, trying not to be angry that she was pushed aside.

Bruce didn't respond to her. He was too angry at the man on the floor. He twisted the man's wrist in the opposite direction in which it was supposed to bend and the man's laughter instantly stopped and his eyes went wide with pain.

"You touch my wife again…_ever_…and it'll be the last thing you ever do," Bruce said. "Do you understand me?" Bruce said calmly as he continued to hold the man's wrist.

The man nodded and Bruce released the man's hand. Bruce stood and turned to Selina. "Let's get your lip cleaned up and then we can go home."

Without another word, Selina allowed herself to be led out of the private corner.

Back in the dark corner, the man with the gold mask was putting his cell phone to his ear.

"It's Leo, ma'am. They're on their way out. Was that enough time, ma'am?" he asked. He waited for a response and then smiled. "Lovely," he replied before hanging up.

He smiled to himself as he stood up and straightened his tuxedo. He brushed himself off and bent down to put his mask back on. He needed to go find Josef and enjoy the remainder of the show.

…

"What the hell happened, Selina?" Bruce asked as he escorted her towards the exit of the museum.

"One minute we were dancing and the next he'd danced me into the corner and was kissing me…"

"What?!" Bruce yelled a little bit too loudly.

The people immediately around them stopped and stared. Realizing this, Bruce hurried them along until they were very near the door and away from everyone else.

"Stay here, I'm going to kill him…"

"You are not."

"Oh, the hell I won't."

"It was just a kiss, Bruce," Selina replied.

"And he bit you, or did you forget that already?" he said, motioning to the fat lip she already had.

"He only bit me because I kicked him in his…"

"Her! It was her!" a female voice shouted.

They both turned to look at it's owner and found Sofia bringing over police officers and security guards.

"I'm Officer Raines; I work as a police officer here in Florence. We need to have a word with you before you go. Please come with me," the man said.

"What's this about?" Bruce asked.

"We just need you to come with us; we'll discuss it once we're in my office."

Looking at the group of police officers and the onlookers, Bruce sighed. "All right."

He'd all but forgotten everything else that had happened tonight. He was sure this had to do with the idiot that attacked his wife, but he wasn't sure where Sofia fit in that story. He'd explain the whole situation and then he and Selina could go home.

However, once he'd sat down next to his wife in the security office, he knew it was not about the fool in the gold mask. It wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.

The Head of Security, Officer Raines, sat down at his desk and regarded them silently for a moment.

"Now, it's been brought to our attention that you, madam, managed to swap out a fake Leopard Diamond for the real one. And once you'd done it, you handed it over to the individual who turned it in to us and told us the story. The only problem is that there is no security camera footage of that event actually occurring. That's the first thing we looked for. She's told us that you did it right during the party, however, she couldn't describe how it happened," he explained to them.

Bruce looked at Selina for an answer, pretending that he had no idea what the man was talking about.

"Well, have you considered the fact that this person can't describe it is more than likely due to the fact that it's because it never happened?" Selina said simply. "If they can't tell you how it happened and there's no camera footage of it, did it happen?"

"We were hoping that you could shed some light on the situation," the officer explained in a monotone.

"Well, I don't even know who would say such a thing," Selina said. "We don't even know that many people in Italy."

"Right, you both moved here from Italy less than a year ago," the officer said. "And you were married shortly after that. And there isn't any other information on either of you to be found."

"That's odd," Bruce said.

"No, what's odd is that you bear a striking resemblance to another Bruce Wayne. The Bruce Wayne who owned Wayne Enterprises in Gotham City in America," the officer said.

Bruce didn't react.

"Are you the same Bruce Wayne?" the officer asked.

But before Bruce could respond, another officer came busting into the room, shouting something in Italian to his superior officer.

"What's he saying?" Bruce asked in a hoarse whisper. He was only catching every other word in the younger man's rapid-fire Italian.

"He's saying that they ran a rapid test on the fingerprints on both of the gems," Selina whispered before she paused to listen to more of the man's story. "And that all the fingerprints, every last one of them, on both of them belong to you know who."

"So, why did you bring us in here?" Bruce asked. "Are we under arrest for something that didn't happen?"

"I would like to apologize for bringing you in here," Officer Raines said. "It seems as though the person who tried to pin it on you, just incriminated themselves by way of fingerprints. You are both free to go. I apologize once more."

He stood and Bruce helped Selina to her feet. The other officer opened the door and they crossed the room before leaving. They said nothing as the officers around them picked up speed and walked around them.

The security guards and police officers found Sofia before Selina and Bruce had left the hidden hallway. She was screaming in both English and Italian as the officers put handcuffs on her.

Alfred was beside himself. "There you are, Bruce, Selina," he said. "This is all a mistake. You have to help her."

"You!" Sofia screeched at Selina. The venom flared in her eyes as she stared daggers at Selina. "This is your fault. This is supposed to be you! I don't know how you did this, but I'm going to get you!" she screamed as she was walked out of the museum.

Selina turned to Officer Raines who was still nearby them.

"She's who accused me? I thought we were friends," Selina said with such sincerity that Bruce almost believed it.

"I do apologize for this, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne. It surprises us about Ms. Sofia as well," the officer said.

Alfred was white as a sheet and Bruce clapped a hand on the man's back.

"What's going on?" Alfred said once he finally found his voice again.

"We'll tell you about it on our way home, Alfred," Bruce said into the man's ear.

…

Looking down off the balcony, two men stood watching the whole event unfold.

"Is it weird to watch your own mother get handcuffed and dragged away?" Leo asked after taking a swig of his bottled beer.

"Not really, I've seen plenty of family members get arrested," Josef replied before taking a drink of his own beer.

"What do we do now that your mama's been picked up?"

"We proceed as normal, but this time, we're in charge," Josef replied with a venomous smile. "And Selina Kyle is still going to help us."

…

To Be Continued…

-Thanks so much for continuing to read this! Please leave me a review!


	11. Chapter 11

Happily Ever After

Chapter 11

As they walked Alfred out to their car, Selina and Bruce were both happy that they'd packed up their things and paid for the hotel room before the party. They could just take Alfred back to their house, no stops required.

Selina had latched onto Alfred and made sure he was okay. It was hard for her to tell because he had become silent. Bruce led the way, and he wasn't saying anything either.

Bruce opened the back door and Selina let go of the older man's arm to climb in, but Alfred moved past her.

"You can sit in the front with your husband. I'd prefer the backseat," he said quietly.

He closed the door and Selina shared a look with Bruce over the roof of the car. Both climbed into the car and sat quiet for a moment.

"Alfred…" Bruce began.

"Just tell me what's going on," he said.

"Well, the long story short…Sofia blackmailed me," Selina said.

"What in the bloody hell are you talking about?"

The pain in his voice nearly broke Selina's heart.

"I'm sorry," Selina replied softly. She positioned herself so she could meet his eyes in the rear-view mirror and he saw her own pained expression.

"Believe me; she loves you," she said. "I can tell. But she knew who Bruce was; she knew about Batman. And she threatened to use the information. And she knew about my past."

"What was the business with her being arrested though? How was that enough to get her arrested?"

"Sofia told me that I had to do a certain task, a test, to prove she could trust me for a bigger job. The test was for me to steal the Leopard Diamond for her…during the party."

"Did you?" Alfred asked.

"Yes," Selina said as Bruce said, "no."

"It's going to be better for you if you don't know the exact details," Selina explained. "You won't have to lie when they bring you in for questioning."

"How long have you been keeping this from me?" Alfred asked, his voice still low.

"We…"

"How long?"

"A couple of months," Bruce replied.

"I see," Alfred said.

"Alfred," Selina said as she turned around in her seat to look at him. "We wanted to involve you in the plan as little as possible. We didn't want her to do anything stupid and hurt you."

Selina realized how foolish she sounded, but she didn't try to back-track on what she said.

"I understand you didn't want to tell me. You just wanted me to stay the foolish old man," Alfred said.

"No," Bruce said.

"Then what?"

"Sofia is a member of the Falcone family. And she would do anything for revenge because of what happened to her cousin Carmine."

Alfred said nothing.

"Alfred, I know you're mad at us, but…"

"But what?" Alfred said. "By not telling me when you found out, you make me look the bigger fool. Please excuse my anger, but I just found out the woman I am in love with…"

"She would have killed you, Alfred," Bruce interrupted. "And I will never let her do anything to you or Selina. You're my family. I wasn't able to protect my parents, but I will sure as hell make sure the both of you are safe."

That effectively silenced the entire car. Bruce continued to drive them towards their home.

An awful hour of silence later, Bruce was turning the car off in their garage.

"Do you want to go get your things tonight or tomorrow morning?" Bruce asked.

None of them had moved from the car and it didn't appear that it was happening anytime soon.

"If you'd let me borrow…" Alfred began.

"I'll take you," Bruce said.

"I can stay here and get your room ready," Selina offered.

"I am able to get my own things," Alfred replied.

"And the two of us can pack it up quicker," Bruce answered him.

Selina gathered her things and climbed out. Alfred climbed out as well. As they crossed paths, Selina wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

"I love you, Alfred. And I am truly sorry," she whispered.

"Thank you, Selina," Alfred replied in a choked voice.

She let go of him and he climbed into her vacated seat next to Bruce.

"Be careful," she said to her husband. He nodded to her and started the car back up. Bruce threw the car back in reverse and soon they were gone.

Selina let herself into the dark house after closing the garage door. She was happy to be home and happy that the mess was all over.

She turned on the lights as she went and made her way up to the master bedroom. She was going to get changed out of her ball gown and then get Alfred's room all fixed up for him.

Finding her favorite black yoga pants and her softest shirt, she headed back downstairs. She didn't care that she'd left her heels on the stairs or her ball gown in a heap on the closet floor. She'd never need the things again and they were horrible reminders of an absolutely awful night.

Her lip had become more swollen and bruised. When she touched it, she nearly shouted in pain. She wished to herself that she'd kicked him harder or let Bruce tear him limb from limb.

She stepped away from the mirror and headed back to the guestroom downstairs.

Selina got to work putting new sheets on the bed bought specifically for Alfred Pennyworth. She started moving Bruce's workout equipment into his office across the short hallway; he was just going to have to make due.

Selina was just finishing cleaning the bathroom when she heard the garage door go up.

She walked towards the door and opened it. "Good, I'm glad…"

Something hit her hard on the side of her head. She tried to speak, but black spots danced in her line of sight as she fought to stay awake. Selina felt her knees buckle and pair of arms catch her before she fell down the steps. Her head felt heavy and muddled; her thoughts couldn't catch up with what was actually happening to her. The last thing she knew before she passed out was that she was being hauled away from her house.

… …

Alfred let himself and Bruce into the home he'd been sharing with Sofia. He grimaced as he turned on the lights and looked around.

"It was all just a lie," Alfred muttered.

Bruce, in turn, clasped a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"No, not at all. I believe she really loves you."

"How could she do this? She was using me to get to you," Alfred said.

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it was all accidental," Bruce said, knowing full-well that it wasn't true.

"Is anything she told me real?" Alfred said. "I was going to ask her to marry me."

The shock must have registered on Bruce's face.

"What? Am I too old?"

"No, no. I just…I just never knew you were interested in getting married," Bruce said. "I just figured you liked being single."

"Let me tell you, Bruce Wayne; taking care of you is a full time job."

"So, I'm why you never married?" Bruce asked.

"I have known that I would always put you first. Someone had already taken your parents away from you. You deserved my full attention."

The men shared a moment of silence.

"Now, if you're done making this all about _you_, I need to pack some of my things up."

To say that Alfred was _efficient_ at packing would be an understatement and would be doing the man a terrible disservice. Alfred had all of his clothes and small personal belongings packed within an hour. As he put bags out, Bruce loaded them into the car. Four suitcases later, he was locking the house back up.

"I hope Selina isn't waiting up for us," Alfred said once they'd gotten back on the road.

"She's probably passed out cold. She was attacked by some idiot at the museum. That's what the fat lip was from," Bruce explained.

"I'm glad to hear that it wasn't you getting too rough doing whatever it is you both do," Alfred replied with a smirk.

"I like to pretend you don't know about sex. It makes my brain hurt otherwise," Bruce smiled back.

"Your brain hurts for a lot of other reasons, my boy. Not because of me and my sex life," Alfred said.

"Sex life?" Bruce repeated. "You have a _sex life?"_

"For a lot longer than you've been alive, Bruce Wayne. Now shut up and drive," Alfred said before relaxing into the car's leather seat and closing his eyes.

They were back home before long, but Bruce was not pleased to see the garage door still up.

"Didn't I put the garage door down?" Bruce asked.

"I don't remember," Alfred said.

Bruce brought the car into the garage and saw that the door to the house was lying open.

Bruce wasn't even sure he'd thrown the car into park when he hopped out and went running into the house. For as badly as his knees always hurt, Bruce was moving at lightning speed.

"Selina!" he shouted as he systematically moved through the house.

The guestroom was cleaned up and his office was filled with his exercise equipment. The bathroom smelled like cleaning products.

He moved up the stairs and checked the second level, she wasn't there.

"Selina!" he screamed, desperately, as he climbed the staircase up to the master suite. He found her shoes discarded on the stairs. Their bed was turned down, but Selina wasn't in it. Bruce checked the bathroom and then, as a last resort, he checked the closet. Her dress was in a wrinkled pile on the floor.

Bruce was breathing heavily and he was feeling dizzy. Selina didn't pull this kind of shit. That meant something was seriously wrong. Her purse was still sitting on the chair next to their bed. He rifled through it quickly; her cell phone was still there.

"Shit!"

Bruce moved out of the master bedroom and down to the main floor. Alfred was looking around the kitchen and waiting for a response from Bruce.

"She's not here. And she didn't take her purse or phone," Bruce said.

He was pale. He felt sick. He wanted to know what happened to his wife.

"So now I've got to find her," Bruce said.

"Of course, you do," Alfred said. "Is this Sofia's doing?"

"More than likely," Bruce said. "Except I don't know who she had working for her."

… …

As Selina started to wake up, she realized her head throbbed. Her hands were bound behind her back and her ankles were bound to the chair she was seated in.

She heard nothing as she started to wake up. She struggled to move her heavy head and observe her surroundings.

She tugged at the ropes that bound her wrists and ankles, but there was just no give to it. It rubbed at her skin and within seconds, the area area there was becoming raw.

"Holy shit," Selina hissed.

"Oh, good," a man's voice said. "You're waking up."

Selina didn't want to make eye contact with her captor. She kept her head down in an act of rebellion. The man noticed this and moved her head up with a hand on her chin.

"Well, Mrs. Wayne," the man said. "You're going to help us whether you want to or not."

"Who are you?"

The man was probably only a couple inches taller than her. Built thin, but it looked like the bulk he had on him was pure muscle. He looked like he was built to be a runner. His dark hair was cut extremely short and didn't move as he did.

"I'm a friend, of course," he smiled.

Another man walked into the room. "Great, she's awake."

"Are you after ransom? Because I'm not worth it," Selina said.

"You think we're after money? No, no, no," the second man said.

It took a minute, but realization dawned on Selina and her clouded mind.

"You. You're the man from the party," Selina said.

"Oh, good, you remember me," he said. "Let me introduce myself; I am Leo Giordianni. And you, Mrs. Wayne…I'm going to call you Selina…are going to help us like you were going to help Sofia."

"What?" she hissed. "Why do you know Sofia?"

"She's my mother," the first man said.

"Your mother?"

"And since you somehow got her put in jail, congratulations by the way, I'm running the show now," he said.

"Josef?" Leo said.

"What?" Josef replied.

"Make sure you tell her that the room she's in is sound proof so she can't shout for her husband… Batman," Leo said, smirking.

"I won't shout for my husband," Selina said calmly.

"And why is that?" Leo asked.

"Because when I get out of these ropes, I'm going to kick both of your asses myself," she said quietly.

…

To Be Continued…

A/N: What'd ya think? Lemme know! Please leave a review! I do love reviews.


	12. Chapter 12

Happily Ever After

Chapter Twelve

To describe Bruce Wayne as anything more or less than a complete mess would be a waste of breath and absolutely and totally inaccurate. He was a controlled mess, trying his best to think with a level head, but a mess just the same.

It had been roughly 31 hours since his wife had gone missing and he was no closer to finding her.

Bruce had not slept. He had not eaten, despite Alfred's best attempts. He sat at his computer, still dressed in most of his now-rumpled tuxedo. The jacket and bowtie were discarded in a heap on the floor, forgotten forever.

The man had been wracking his brain as he attempted to figure out who could have taken her. Bruce Wayne had a list of enemies that could go on for miles, and Selina Kyle would be target number one in his life.

Sofia had to be at the heart of the whole plot. But what was the rest of the plot? And now that she was incapacitated in prison, so someone else had to be running the show and calling the shots. Whoever that was, they could have Selina halfway around the world, or worse. But Bruce didn't want to consider the worse part, not yet.

And while Bruce struggled to figure out where his wife could be, which was anywhere in the world, he still needed to explain Sofia to Alfred. He'd pulled all of Selina's research about the woman and laid it out in front of his oldest friend.

Alfred silently rifled through the papers as Bruce continued on to more of his own.

"I don't want to interrupt you, but what is this bit right here?" Alfred asked as he pointed to Selina's hand-drawn family tree of the Falcone family. The part he pointed to was a blurb written in with a line drawn connecting Sofia to a person named _Giovanni_. And the both of them had a line drawn down to a question mark with a male symbol.

Bruce cracked his first smile in almost two days. "This is a clue! God, I love this woman."

"She's married?" Alfred asked.

"Or _was_ married," Bruce suggested.

"And Selina believes she has a son?"

"A son could be carrying on with Sofia's plan, whatever it might be. A son could have kidnapped Selina," Bruce said. "She never introduced you to any of her relatives? No nieces or nephews?"

"Sofia said that she was the only member of her family left. She was left the farmhouse when her parents died. And she certainly never mentioned anything about a previous marriage," he said quietly.

"I wonder what happened to this husband," Bruce said.

"Selina doesn't have any notes about that?" Alfred asked as he squinted to read the other notes that were jotted on the family tree.

Bruce clicked on another folder on Selina's computer. He shook his head as he clicked on yet another. He froze immediately upon seeing this folder's contents.

"What?" Alfred asked, reading the man's expression.

Bruce continued to silently click through. He'd found a file on Selina's computer of images of their marriage. Pictures of their sightseeing, decorating the house, candid shots of Bruce when he wasn't paying attention. He had no clue that Selina had taken these pictures, let alone saved them for her to look through at her leisure.

"Um," Bruce said. "I'm just going to keep going through her computer and see what I can find," he said.

His voice was strained as he was trying to keep himself together. But he knew his wife could be dead. That thought was not comforting in the least. Alfred heard the tension in the man's voice and for the first time ever, he didn't know what to say.

However, Selina Wayne was not dead…not yet. She was, though, pissed as hell and locked up in a room that had no bathroom. And she needed a bathroom.

Selina had been pacing for hours. She knew she had to be locked up for more than a day, maybe 36 hours. She tried not thinking about it, but no matter what, she was going to burst.

She was about to start banging on the door, despite knowing it was soundproof, when there was the sound of the door opening.

Selina backed off and cautiously eyed the man who strolled into the room.

"Mrs. Wayne," Leo acknowledged as he carried a tray of food and drink into the room.

She knew this was the man who had attacked her at the masquerade ball. Selina knew she had to be careful; he was unpredictable, but her stomach grumbled loudly as she saw the food.

However, despite her stomach giving her away, she said nothing.

"Mrs. Wayne? Selina?" he said. "This is for you. I know you're hungry," he smirked.

He still stood on the other side of the room and Selina watched him warily. He was in the grey dress pants and vest of a three-piece suit. His black button up dress shirt was open at the collar and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. Leo looked casual and relaxed, yet the scars on his bare forearms, combined with the muscles that were flexed as he held the tray, said he was dangerous.

Selina still didn't respond. She was starving, but she had to have a bathroom more.

"Do you not enjoy eating sandwiches?" Leo asked, watching her reaction closely.

"I like sandwiches just fine, but…"

"But?" he repeated softly.

"I would rather use the restroom," Selina answered equally as quietly.

"Oh," he said, narrowing his eyes. "No funny business?"

"No," Selina replied through gritted teeth. "I just need to pee."

The man thought for a moment. "All right, all right," he said.

"Thank you," Selina said gratefully.

Leo removed the gun from the back of his trousers and held it out in front of him towards Selina.

"One false move and I'm going to have to shoot you, Mrs. Wayne," Leo said.

"I just have to pee," Selina said. "Just point me in the direction of the nearest bathroom. You have actual plumbing, right?" she asked while he opened the door.

"Are you in any position to be picky if I told you 'no'?" Leo asked.

He never took his eyes, or his gun, off of Selina as they moved down the hall.

Selina nodded. "No, I suppose not," she replied.

"The bathroom is the last door on the left. I'm going to give you two minutes."

"Thank you," she replied gratefully again.

Within no time, Selina was back in her box, alone once more. She eyed the sandwich that still sat on the tray across the room from her. Her stomach still grumbled in hunger, but she was wary to eat food from her captor.

This was much nicer than the first time she was held against her will. Selina had repressed the memory as best she could, never mentioning it to Bruce either.

It had happened in the early days of Bane's siege on Gotham. He'd done his research on her and come for her himself one night.

Bane had tried to break her, using his immense strength and just general fear-inducing nature to try to scare her into submission. In the three days that she was held by Bane, he never touched her, never hurt her, but the fear that he caused in her would eventually make her submit to what he wanted. Eventually she was stealing fingerprints and bringing the Batman, _Bruce_, to him.

Selina involuntarily shuddered at the memory of watching Bane break her now-husband. It was her fault. If she had only been stronger. A single tear rolled down her cheek; a totally unexpectedly show of emotion. She wiped it away and shoved all memories of firing cannons of the bat-pod at Bane and his body landing unceremoniously in a heap on the stone floor. She remembered that Bruce had forgiven her. She was going to use that resolve to get herself out of wherever she was and get back to her husband. If she could fight Bane, she could get rid of these guys.

Her first step needed to be figuring out where she was. The hall that she'd been led down had no windows and neither did the bathroom. Selina also had no shoes; she wouldn't get far without them. She certainly had her work cut out for herself.

…

A/N: okay, so it's been a while, but there it was. What do you think? Let me know. I promise I'm not going to drag the rescue out, I'm thinking maybe 5 or so more chapters, but what I'm planning shall be epic.

And major thanks to my coworkers. They are, not only some of the inspiration for a couple of my characters, but they give me lots of ideas to work with.


	13. Chapter 13

Happily Ever After

Chapter 13

Bruce smiled at the sight ahead of him. He watched Selina on the beach, splashing on the shoreline with a little girl who looked like him. Alfred was in a beach chair to his left, snoozing under an umbrella.

Without warning, an enormous tidal wave rose up and swallowed up both his wife and daughter. No matter how fast Bruce moves, he cannot find either one of them. Both of them are lost to the deep ocean. Bruce tries to wake Alfred, but he simply fell out of his beach chair, unmoving in the sand. Bruce found himself collapsing in the sand himself, full of despair.

He awoke with a start and for a moment, Bruce had no idea where he was. In an instant, he had rolled off of the couch and landed with a loud thud.

Bruce forced his eyes open and realized he was in the living room. Sunlight was streaming through the room's large windows. He focused in on the large clock on the wall that Selina had picked out. It was one of her first major purchases and had been hanging since the day she'd bought it. Forcing the memory away, he zeroed in on the actual time. Ten a.m.

Alfred appeared a minute later, a cup of coffee in one hand, and a newspaper in the other. He set both items on the table next to Bruce.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Bruce fixed him with a look that simply explained the mental horror he had just experienced, and the actual horror he'd just woken up to.

"Is Selina back?" he asked hoarsely. But he already knew the answer. Alfred simply remained silent.

"Master Bruce," Alfred began out of habit. "Perhaps you should take a shower, get yourself cleaned up."

It had been four days. Four horrible god damned days. There had been no ransom requests, nothing to indicate whether or not Selina was alive or dead. Bruce hadn't showered or shaved. He was still in his tuxedo, but he was planning on burning it when he had Selina safely back in his arms.

"What's the point?" he asked, not meeting his friend's eyes.

Alfred knew this was the same depression that had plagued Bruce after Rachel's death; however he knew this was going to be so much worse. He couldn't let Bruce do that again. Bruce could find Selina and Bruce _would_ find Selina. It was going to be okay; it _had_ to be okay.

"Bruce, your wife would be," he paused to choose the most correct word. "Selina would be…_disgusted_…that you've done this to yourself."

Upon hearing Alfred's words, Bruce got angry again; angrier than he had been in a very long time. Alfred knew how to push his buttons and this worked just as he'd thought.

"I don't want to live without her," Bruce said as he ran his left hand through his hair. His wedding ring pulled slightly at it, but he didn't wince.

Alfred nodded at Bruce's words. He knew how Bruce felt about Selina. It was stronger than he'd felt about any other woman he'd ever had in his wife.

He'd had everyone he'd ever loved ripped away from him at some point. Yes, Alfred was back, but that was only a small consolation in the grand scheme of Bruce's life. The dream…_nightmare_…he'd just awoken from had made sure to remind him of it, just in case he'd forgotten for one single second.

"Selina fought to find you," Alfred told him. "You need to fight to find her. Go take a shower, put some clean clothes on. Take your damn coffee and get alert. Don't waste another single second," Alfred said.

Bruce nodded from his place on the floor before standing. He was stiff from sleeping on the couch in a contorted position, but he forced himself to move. Without another word, he picked up the steaming mug of black coffee and headed to the stairs.

It was in the shower that Bruce almost completely broke down. He'd been avoiding intimate places within the house, which had proven to be extremely difficult given the nature of their relationship. He'd been using the couch as a bed; it was as if the top floor of their house ceased to exist.

Four days was too long. Four days meant Selina was dead. He knew Selina was a strong woman, the strongest woman he'd ever known, but four days was far too long. Bruce wanted to believe otherwise, but all the negative thoughts were outweighing the positive ones.

He resisted the urge to smell her shampoo that sat on one of the shower's ledges. Bruce knew it was a bad idea. Even without the actual action of lifting the bottle, he knew what it smelled like. He'd never forget it.

For the first time in a long time Bruce was actually afraid. He was really afraid that he'd never see her again. Afraid they'd never get to finish what they started. Hell, Bruce hadn't even gotten to take her on their honeymoon to Paris.

Paris.

Paris.

Paris.

Bruce nearly broke the glass of the shower as he threw his fist at it.

"Damn it, she's in Paris!" he yelled. The sound echoed through the marble bathroom and he threw the shower door open so hard that it rattled dangerously on its hinges.

He was half-dressed and still dripping wet as he ran down the stairs.

"Alfred, we're going to Paris," he announced, his eyes were wild

Alfred looked up at Bruce like he was on fire.

"What?" Bruce said. He was dripping water all over the carpet and he definitely didn't care.

"Isn't now an odd time to take a vacation?" Alfred asked. "Why on Earth would we go to Paris?"

"Because that's where they took her. Selina's been taken to Paris."

"How do you know that?" Alfred asked.

"Sofia," Bruce said. "All the bullshit of the masquerade ball and stealing the Leopard Diamond was an audition. She wanted to see if Selina was as good as she'd heard and to make sure that Selina could be trusted. There is some kind of job in Sofia needed Selina for. So, whoever is carrying on with this took her to France. If she's still alive, she's in Paris," he said with great conviction.

"I can start making arrangements…" Alfred began. He realized that the tone in Bruce's voice was beginning to be more manic as he kept going, but Alfred knew better than to stop him.

"My jet is stored at Peretola airport. It's just outside Florence," Bruce said.

The announcement that Bruce had acquired yet another private jet wasn't surprising to Alfred. Old habits died hard; particularly with Bruce Wayne.

"Go finish getting dressed, then," Alfred said. "We've got somewhere to be."

… … …

Because Selina hadn't tried anything funny during her initial trip to the restroom, Leo had fought with Josef to move her to a more comfortable room later that evening. That's when Selina realized that she wasn't even in Italy anymore. So the shit they told her about the room being soundproof didn't matter; she wasn't even in the same country as her husband. The only person who might have heard her from that distance was Superman and she didn't give a crap about him at the moment.

Her new room wasn't nearly as awful as the first one. It had a built in bathroom, the most ridiculous tiny window that could be constructed and most importantly, an actual bed for her to sleep on.

Selina wasn't afraid of anything that these two men could do to her. In all actuality, the likelihood of either of them trying something other than shooting her was slim to none. Neither one of them had much height on her or even looked particularly scary. Both were about the same height as her and she probably out-weighed Josef.

The very next day, Selina decided she needed new clothes. Leo looked at her like she'd asked for a machete to chop him into a million pieces.

"Whatever it is you're keeping me here for, I'm not going to be able to go out in three or four day old yoga pants and bare feet," Selina said. "I don't want to push my luck, but a pair of jeans and some shoes would be lovely. And maybe some deodorant."

Yes, the luxury of having her own shower in her room was lovely, however, putting on dirty clothes again once she'd cleaned up was fighting a useless battle. She wasn't given anything that could be used as a weapon, which would be anything, because she could probably turn it all into a weapon. She had no make-up, no hairspray and no hairdryer. Her hair had settled into a permanently matted tangled mess.

"I'm assuming at some point I'm leaving this building, wherever we are, but I can't go out like this," Selina pointed out. "I look like I've been kidnapped," she smirked.

"I need to go chat with Josef," he said as he exited the room. He closed and locked the door behind him and Selina let out a long, exasperated sigh.

She hoped that Bruce was going to be able to find her, but if she didn't know where she was, how was he going to find her?

Selina moved to the miniscule window and tried to figure out where she was based on the surrounding landscape. It was too small of a window for her to ever be able to get out of, unless she could figure out how to dislocate her shoulders.

She thought they probably brought her to Paris, but the building she was in only overlooked other buildings. She saw no markings and she tiny window didn't allow her to look down onto a street below. Nothing helped her figure out where she was. She just knew she wasn't in Italy anymore, she could feel it in her gut.

… … …

In another room, Leo was trying to explain the conversation he'd just had with Selina.

"She has a point, Joe," Leo said.

"And won't it be a little strange that you're going shopping for women's clothing?" Josef replied back.

"We can send someone else," Leo said.

Josef shook his head. "No, no. You'll do it since you think it's such a great idea."

"We're going to have to let her out some point anyway, Joe. How is she supposed to get into the expo without being there? We'll need to get her what she needs so she can get in undetected and make the changes on the existing desalinization mechanism."

"It doesn't matter if she does that," Josef replied. "We just need her to steal the engineering specs for it. Ideally she'd be able to make the changes, but if she doesn't, if we have to…eliminate…her before then, well, we'll just have to make due."

"You're not afraid in the slightest that the Batman will come after us?" Leo asked.

"You're afraid of Bruce Wayne? He has proven to be resilient, but he's way out of practice."

Leo remembered the look in Wayne's eyes after he'd first approached Selina at the party. Selina had barely been able to hold him back from tearing him limb from limb.

"You're losing your edge, Leo. If I'm making a mistake including you in this little project of ours, I can end your inclusion right now," he said as he brandished a shiny new handgun.

Leo silently shook his head no. He was losing his nerve, but he wouldn't speak of it again.

"Perfect," Josef replied. "Now, I have a dinner date with a Doctor Pamela Isely about the desert greenhouse project. I'll see what information I can get out of her before we send Selina in to do what she does best."

…

A/N: Okay, so this chapter came a bit faster than the last one. I have to thank everyone who has spent their time reading this so far. I do appreciate it. I can't complain because I've gotten over 50 reviews on a sequel story in a ficdom that's kind of waning. But I only got one review on the last chapter and I hope no one hated it.

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Hope you all enjoyed it. Let me know if you have second.


	14. Chapter 14

Happily Ever After

Chapter 14

The next day, Selina was taken out into the real world. She hadn't realized that she had missed the sun so much until she was out and standing in it. However, she was thoroughly offended by the flip flops that Leo had given to her to wear until she got a proper pair of shoes.

Each time she took a step, it made that horrible clacking sound as it slapped against the bottom of her foot. She grimaced each time. And she swore, despite _everyone_ wearing similar shoes that they turned and looked at her each time they made the slapping sound.

"Could you at least _pretend_ to be enjoying the fresh air?" he asked as he led her out.

"No," Selina snapped. "These sandals are awful. Aw-_ful_," she enunciated.

She'd started feeling a little more comfortable with Leo; he wasn't nearly as menacing as his friend, Josef.

That morning, as he brought her breakfast, Leo laid out the basic plans. There was a huge expo in the coming week right there in Paris. The machine that they were interested in was called _The Green Desert Project._ It was a machine that uses oil to heat seawater that was piped in to 160 degrees. The steam turns turbines to make electricity. From there, most of the heated water is fed into a desalination plant and a smaller amount is used to keep the greenhouse warm during the cold desert nights. The air inside the greenhouse is kept humid and cool.

This environment, combined with the now-freshwater, would allow for growing fresh fruits and vegetables in the desert. This technology could end the world's food crisis.

But Leo also informed her that by making a couple minor adjustments to the machine in a couple key places would make it into an extremely powerful weapon. That notion did not make Selina feel better.

What they wanted was to have Selina break into the building that was housing the technology expo in order for her to make the necessary changes to the machine.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to make the changes," Selina told him. "I'm a safe-cracker, not a scientist."

"Josef isn't going to take that as an answer," Leo told her.

"One of you is going to have to go with me. I didn't do so well in science classes in school."

Leo stared at her.

"I'm serious," Selina said. "You're going to have to have someone do the actual work on the machine. That isn't what I do."

Leo ignored her statement and proceeded to tell her the rest of the plan. The back-up plan relied on Selina stealing the blueprints of the original design of the machine. From the blueprints, they could build it to their specifications and they wouldn't have to worry about taking the time to make the changes to it in a short period of time.

Selina was afraid that it sounded a lot like the green energy thing that Bruce's company had first created and then had to rescue Gotham from. This was not good. Not good at all.

She forced herself to focus on the task at hand: finding some suitable clothes without getting shot by the guy with a nervous trigger finger. This little village outside of Paris wasn't going to have someone to make her a leather cat suit, though. So she was going to have to make do with what she could find here. She would stick to finding some black clothing and a pair of sturdy shoes. Selina would come up with an escape plan later.

…

The notion of breaking in somewhere actually gave Selina an excited tingle in her body. She knew she shouldn't want to steal again, especially after the events of the masquerade ball, but hell, being back in Paris again was almost driving her crazy.

Leo had set up the computer in her room, with a link that would ensure Selina wasn't contacting anyone. She immediately started to research the green desert project.

The project itself was headed up by Doctor Jason Woodrue and his research assistant Doctor Pamela Isley. Google brought up an image of both scientists and Selina clucked in distaste. Woodrue had crazy hair and a ratty old Hawaiian shirt under a lab coat. Doctor Isley was in a lifeless brown dress and an ill-fitting cardigan. Her mousy brown hair was pulled up into a bun and had a pencil sticking out of it. Pamela's glasses were balanced on the tip of her nose. She reminded Selina of one of the nerds she made fun of in school.

She kept reading until her eyes couldn't stay open anymore and she fell asleep in the chair at the computer.

…

Later that evening, after her nap, Selina decided she needed to know what the ultimate goal that Josef and Leo were trying to accomplish with turning the Green Desert project into a weapon. She knew Josef would never tell her and he wouldn't want Leo to tell her either. However, after their little bonding shopping trip, Selina knew she could convince Leo to explain it to her.

"You should just tell me what this is all about," Selina said as Leo brought her dinner to her.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

Selina rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb, Leo. You know what I'm asking. Why do you and Josef want to blow up the world? What do you gain from destroying everything? You'd blow yourselves up, too."

"It won't blow up the _whole_ world. It's only got enough power to blow up a city; two at most," Leo said.

"And you picked Paris?" Selina cringed at not only all the people that would die, but all of the art that would be lost forever.

"Of course not, Mrs. Wayne. We're going to blow up Gotham City. Or maybe Metropolis. Josef doesn't like that Superman guy either."

Selina couldn't blame him for his dislike of Superman; he was too much of a boy scout. But back to the matter at hand…

"You have family in Gotham," Selina said.

"I don't," Leo said.

"Well, Josef does. His uncle is still there."

Leo looked at her.

"And he's crazy; off his rocker. He's been locked in Arkham Asylum for years," Selina told him. "Carmine Falcone was treated by Doctor Jonathon Crane, another nut job and…"

"Uncle Carmine is on his way here as we speak," Josef said from the doorway.

Selina and Leo both whipped their heads to look at him.

"And he isn't going to like being called a nut job," Josef told them.

"Even if he is one?" Selina asked.

"He's bringing Doctor Crane with him," Josef replied.

Selina's eyes went wide. "He's supposed to be locked up in Arkham forever. The damage he caused with the fear toxin…"

Josef smiled his evil smile.

This was all going to be so much worse than anything they'd experienced, even with Bane and Talia al Ghul.

"I learned something during my dinner date with Doctor Isley last night," Josef told her. He was looking her straight in the eye, trying to intimidate her, but Selina didn't look away.

"What's that?" she asked.

"The good doctor works for a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises. It's basically all funded by your husband's company. Isn't that a happy accident?" he laughed.

Selina's non-committal expression changed immediately. Another piece of Wayne Enterprises equipment that could cause major destruction.

…

Bruce Wayne had imagined his next trip to Paris much differently. One, he hadn't pictured having to fly himself there. Two, he imagined Selina sitting next to him and not Alfred.

Bruce's eyes were sore and bloodshot. If he were an airline pilot, the FAA would have grounded him. Alfred knew that Bruce shouldn't be flying a plane, but he knew better than to say anything to him to try and stop him.

They had left immediately that day and were in Paris in a matter of hours. It wasn't a very long trip and that was Alfred knew it was a good thing because Bruce was about to lose it at any moment.

The plane was left at the airport and Alfred rented them a car. They needed to find a hotel room and Bruce needed to get some sleep. He wouldn't be doing anyone any good if he didn't get any sleep.

Bruce's thoughts kept racing. He'd driven himself crazy. He hadn't told Alfred this, but his worst fear was that Selina was already dead. What if she'd tried to fight back and they overpowered her? She was strong, so strong, but the what if's were out of control in his brain.

As Alfred drove them towards a hotel, Bruce was researching events in Paris.

"There's a technology expo here; it's in three days," Bruce announced after a long silence.

Alfred didn't turn to look at him, but he nodded.

"Is that something that these bozos would be interested in?" Alfred asked.

"Is that something that Sofia would have been interested it?" Bruce countered. He didn't mean it the way it came out, but it visibly stung Alfred.

Alfred didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry," Bruce offered. "I didn't mean it the way I said it. I'm grasping at straws here. I'm desperate."

"I know you are. But I thought we established that freaking out wasn't going to help anything?" Alfred asked.

Bruce rolled his eyes.

"You know I'm right."

Bruce still said nothing.

"We're going to go to the hotel first; you're going to get some sleep and then we'll figure out a game plan. And since you seem to have a hunch on this technology expo, we'll start there," Alfred said.

"How can you be so level-headed?" Bruce asked.

"One of us has to be. Is there a list of groups presenting at this expo?" Alfred asked.

Bruce clicked on a link and it took him to another page of the website. He scanned the names and mumbled something that sounded like _blah blah blah_. "Oh great, Stark Industries," Bruce said sarcastically.

"He does have style, if only a computer butler," Alfred said.

"He's obnoxious," Bruce said. "A pain in the ass. Running around announcing that he's Iron Man. He's had nothing but trouble since then."

"Anyone else on that list of interest?" Alfred asked, trying to get Bruce off the topic of Tony Stark. He was grateful that for the most part, Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark existed in two different worlds.

"Wayne Enterprises is listed on here," Bruce said in a shocked tone. "What the hell?"

"Maybe you should make a call to Mr. Fox."

…

Author's Note: Okay, there was the next update. I promise that it won't be angsty Bruce for much longer, although, Bruce Wayne is exceptionally good at brooding. Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoyed it. (And got my little joke there at the end.)

Please leave me a review. It'll make my Tuesday night at work that much better. Thanks everyone!


	15. Chapter 15

Happily Ever After

Chapter Fifteen

Josef had done it. He'd somehow managed to get into see the machine.

"Isn't it amazing?" Pamela Isely asked.

She was astounded that a man, especially a man that was as good-looking as Josef was, would want anything to do with her. She smiled like an idot as she led him into the greenhouse.

"This is, of course, a smaller version of what we've been working on in the Sahara," Pamela explained.

She batted her eyelashes behind her thick-rimmed glasses and she smoothed down her skirt. She had carefully chosen the blue printed one from her suitcase because, despite it being floor length, it had a sexy slit right up just past her ankle. Pamela wasn't good in heels, but she teetered in a pair of inch high ones and she was positive she was stunning.

She watched as Josef admired the work she'd done and the woman felt a surge of pride in her chest. Most men ignored her presence, but Josef had sought her out.

She pulled the pin that was holding her frizzy brown hair all piled up on her head. She tossed her hair around as sexily as she could and strolled over to him as he admired the mechanics that made the greenhouse work the way it did.

"So, Josef, what other plans did you have for tonight?" she asked as she wrapped her hands around his upper arm.

He turned to her and smiled evilly.

"Well, I was hoping you would give me a copy of the plans to this magnificent invention," Josef said.

His statement caught her off-guard. Had he really just asked her that?

"Why would you need a copy of the plans?" she asked.

He peeled her hands off of his arm and looked down into her eyes.

"Because when I have a copy of the plans, I won't need you," he said coldly.

Josef was holding her at arms' length and it was a good thing he was. Pamela's first instinct was to reach out and claw his eyes out of his head.

Pamela's own eyes flashed in anger and sadness before she reached out to clutch at Josef's shirt. She was desperate; she'd never had someone who had even looked at her this way and the first one that had come along, she had fallen head over heels for him. And she'd let him use her. Josef was going to leave her behind.

"Yes, Doctor Isely, I was using you," Josef said. "Do you really think I could fall for someone like you?" he asked.

Pamela collapsed into tears and her face screwed up in sadness.

"How could you do this?" Pamela sobbed.

"I'm not a very nice man, Pamela," he laughed. "And you were so incredibly foolish to believe me. Now about those plans?"

"The only copy of the plans are on my laptop, back at the lab we're using for the duration of the exhibition. And you'll never be allowed inside," she cried. "You could really hurt a person like this?" she asked as Josef began to walk out of the exhibit space.

"Women are so gullible when they think they're in love," he called as he strolled out of the room.

Pamela completely collapsed on the ground now, but it didn't make her feel any better. She knew he would be headed to her lab, but she was going to beat him there. And he was going to pay for what he had done to her.

…

"…You need to find out where Isely is doing her work while she's here in Paris," Josef yelled into his phone.

It was two in the morning, local time, and he had woken Leo up. Leo was struggling to become coherent and process the demand that his best friend and business partner had just made.

"Why? Didn't she take you to the actual greenhouse display?" Leo asked.

Josef made an annoyed sound into his end of the phone.

"She did. But she also told me that the plans were at her lab. And since she's in a heap on the floor right now, I'll be able to get in there and get her computer," Josef explained. "Seriously, you think I'm so dumb?"

Leo sighed. "Of course I don't think you're dumb, Josef."

"So wake the woman up, get her in her suit and meet me."

"Meet you where? Do you still need me to figure out the location of her lab?" Leo asked through a yawn.

"Yes; find the location of the lab, text it to me and send Mrs. Wayne along to meet me there," Josef said. "I want these plans now."

"Do you know how much it entails to wake Selina up?" Leo replied.

"I don't care if you've gotta put an entire marching band to make sure she's alert. Just get her awake and dressed and meet me at the lab!"

Leo heard nothing further as Josef had disconnected the call. This was not going to be a fun task.

He threw back the covers and climbed out of the safety and comfort of his bed. For a brief moment, Leo let himself ponder the idea of doing something else with his life. Anything, actually.

Leo and Josef had been friends growing up in Italy and both had dreamed of becoming rich businessmen with yachts on Lake Como. They would go to Monaco on the weekends with their supermodel wives while their nannies tended to their children. All boys, of course.

But as Leo shrugged on his pajama shirt, he knew none of that would ever happen. Josef was born into a crime family, but he didn't know how bad it was until he was a teen. Sofia had his father killed. Leo would never have amounted to anything great either. His family refused to let him go to college; all hopes of becoming a rich businessman were dashed because he had to stay in their mostly-rural town to support the other dozen children that his mother and father had produced.

And now, he was reduced to this. A minor player in a crazy crime outfit. He was Josef's right-hand man, but until Sofia was out of the picture, that had meant nothing. Now he was tending to Selina Wayne, the Catwoman from Gotham City. While she was incredibly beautiful and she pretended to be harmless, she was ruthless and sometimes Leo felt like he could see the wheels turning in her brain. She was working on something; probably Josef's, and his own, deaths. He wouldn't underestimate her; it could potentially be his ending.

He waited for his computer to boot up and debated waking Selina up now or after he had the information. She was a woman, he decided, and would want time to prepare herself.

He yawned again and stalked out of his bedroom. He walked to short distance down the hallway to the locked room that served as Selina's prison. Presumably she was asleep.

Leo knocked softly and called her name. "I'm coming in," he said.

He unlocked the door and opened it.

Selina blinked into the light that was let into the room from the doorway.

"I thought we had a deal," Selina grumbled.

"Mrs. Wayne, I need you to get dressed in your suit," Leo said. "We have to leave in a bit."

"What time is it?" she asked. Selina knew it was the middle of the night, but since she wasn't allowed a clock, she couldn't be sure.

"About two-fifteen," Leo said. "We'll be going to the location where the plans are being held."

"Oh, you mean at that lab that Doctor Isely is using while she's in town?" Selina said non-chalantly.

Her question took Leo by surprise.

"Yes, why…?"

"You told me to research the greenhouse program; I don't do anything half-assed, Leo," Selina replied.

"It's too bad you've fallen for one of the good guys, because you'd fit in with us pretty well," Leo replied.

"I know you mean that as a compliment, but as I'm actively avoiding being arrested any further in my lifetime, I'm going to have to be offended."

"Do you have the address for the lab?" Leo asked, ignoring her.

"Yes, and if you buy me a bagel and coffee on the way there, I'll give it to you," Selina said.

Half an hour later, Selina was in the backseat of Leo's car, tethered to the seat in front of her. He couldn't take any chances of her running away. She was completely silent as he drove her.

…

Bruce Wayne hadn't slept since he and Alfred had hit the tarmac in Paris. He was running on empty, but since he had read about the exhibition and Wayne Enterprises' involvement, he knew he was onto something.

Lucius Fox was still focused on the green energy work that he and Bruce had started so long ago. Wayne Enterprises was the significant donor to the folks that were running the Green Desert project. Bruce knew he had to speak to Fox immediately. It didn't matter that it was two in the morning.

"It's been a while, Mr. Wayne," Fox yawned into his phone. Bruce, despite the words being spoken, knew Lucius Fox was smirking. "It must be something extremely important if you're calling in the middle of the night after such a long time. Especially since you're dead."

"My wife has been kidnapped," Bruce said softly.

"Still not taking it easy, are you Mr. Wayne?" Lucius asked sarcastically.

"Lucius…"

"What can I do to help?" Lucius asked.

"You're in Paris for the exhibition, right?" Bruce asked.

"Why, yes I am, Mr. Wayne."

Bruce knew it was out of habit that Lucius kept saying his name like that and he was incredibly grateful that he had a secure line. He didn't need anyone listening in and finding out he was still alive. However, it was starting to grow annoying as Fox did it.

"Well, I am, too. I'm hoping you might be able to get me into the exhibition space the legal way. I think it might be able to lead me in the right direction to find Selina."

"How long as Selina been gone?" Lucius asked.

"Two weeks," Bruce told him, the pain clear in his voice. "To be perfectly honest, I can't even be sure that she's still alive. But if she is, and I'd like to believe that she is, I think it has something to do with the Green Desert project."

"Well, of course I can get you in, but won't it be slightly conspicuous that Bruce Wayne is wandering the halls?"

"I was hoping to go now," Bruce said.

"I was afraid that you were going to say that," Lucius said.

Lucius proceeded to give Bruce the address of the exhibition hall and they disconnected the call.

"Are you going with me?" Bruce turned to Alfred.

Until Bruce had finally called Lucius Fox, Alfred had been snoozing contentedly in the arm chair. He'd woken up when Bruce had gotten excited about his discovery and dialed the phone.

"Are you going as Bruce Wayne or the Batman?" Alfred asked. "Because I am no sidekick."

"Firstly, Batman doesn't need a sidekick; secondly, there isn't anything else. I don't need a sidekick," Bruce scoffed. "But I _do_ need my wife back. You know how I feel about people taking my things."

"I _do_ believe that your wife would take offense to being called one of your_ things."_

"Do you think she's still alive?" Bruce asked seriously.

"I do," Alfred replied. "She's a tough woman; you don't need me to tell you that."

"All right," Bruce said. "We have to meet Lucius in twenty."

…

The exhibition hall was grand and decorated with Corinthian columns and marble. Lucius met them at the back doors and had let them in.

"No one comes in between midnight and six, even the cleaning crew," Lucius explained. "They make sure that no one is in here so no one else is looking at other people's work."

"Why are the lights on, then?" Bruce asked as they walked down the main hall.

Bruce locked to his left and there was an enormous curtained area with the Stark Industries logo. He grimaced.

"Still don't get along with Mr. Stark, do we?" Lucius asked, smirking slightly.

Bruce rolled his eyes, but he chose not to say anything. He wasn't in the mood to get into a discussion about the finer points of his friendship and subsequent non-friendship with Tony Stark.

The three men, reunited for the first time in a long while, continued down the hall until they came to the main stage. Bruce felt a familiar surge of pride as he looked at his family name emblazoned on signs and flags. But he narrowed his eyes when he investigated the space. The curtains around the Wayne Enterprises' submission were hanging open as in a haphazard, crooked way; as though someone had opened them without using any regard.

"Someone was here," Bruce said.

"They probably just forgot to close the curtains," Alfred said.

Lucius shook his head. "I was the last person to leave; I'm always the last to leave. I closed the curtains myself. Doctor Isely and I were putting the finishing touches on the greenhouse for tomorrow."

"This Doctor Isely…"

"She's young, but incredibly smart. Pam is…"

"Can she be trusted?" Bruce asked as he moved closer to the greenhouse.

"Yes," Lucius told him. "She's a bookworm. No social life, too shy. She's devoted her life to working with plants. When we first decided to work on the Green Desert project, we knew Doctor Jason Woodrue would be perfect for the team. He brought us Pam and she's been a blessing to the whole process.

"Her knowledge of plants is second to none," Bruce said.

Bruce continued to explore the project. And with only looking at it for a few minutes, he knew it.

"If you re-routed these two wires and an added an adapter, here," he pointed. Well, this could be a huge bomb."

"What?" Alfred said.

Lucius inspected the process that Bruce was pointing at.

"Holy shit," Lucius said under his breath.

"But if I make a couple minor changes, no one could turn this into a weapon," Bruce said.

"That's good because the Bat didn't fit into my luggage," Lucius said.

He was grump because he hadn't seen that and he was grumpy because he was tired. But he was grateful that Bruce had saved one of his inventions again.

"I'll go get my toolbox from the back."

Lucius stepped away and left Bruce and Alfred alone for the moment.

"It's good to see the family name living on, isn't it?" Alfred asked, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. "Doing the work that you wanted."

"I knew Lucius would do great things," Bruce said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Do you miss being there?"

"Honestly? No," Bruce said. "I wasn't myself there and now, now I can be who I am," he finished.

"I'm grateful and pleased to hear that, sir," Alfred said.

Lucius returned with is set of tools and Bruce began to work on the adjustments to the Green Desert greenhouse. When he was finished, it was almost four in the morning.

"So, who has the actual plans to this?" Bruce said.

"Doctor Isely has the plans on her laptop," Lucius explained. "I like to travel lighter," he finished.

"We need to go make a visit to Doctor Isely's laptop."

"We've rented out a laboratory a few miles away from here. Pam said she likes to keep working," Lucius said.

"It's the middle of the night," Alfred said. "Wouldn't she have her computer with her wherever she's staying?"

Bruce felt like he had a hunch.

"Let's go to the lab first."

"I don't have access to the lab without Pamela," Lucius said.

"I think we'll be able to get us in," Bruce said.

…

"You're finally here," Josef said in an annoyed voice. "It took you long enough." He then muttered something in Italian.

Selina had had it. She muttered her response back to him in Italian and Josef stared at her with a shocked expression.

"You speak Italian?" Josef asked.

"Fluently," Selina replied in Italian. "So every nasty thing you've said about me and my husband, all of the major and minor details of your plan that you thought you slipped past me…I know it all," she finished.

The look of rage and confusion that crossed Josef's usually smug face was thrilling to Selina. She'd been waiting days and biding her time until it was appropriate. While she was still not free, and in reality, no closer to being free, Selina had nothing to lose. The only chance she had at this point was shock and awe. And judging by the look of horror on his face, she'd accomplished her task.

"What are you going to do?" Selina asked. "Kill me now? Leave me here? Who'll steal your shit for you? Judging by the way you stomp around the house, you can't do anything quietly."

"You seem to have gotten awfully brave on the ride over here," Josef said, moving towards her. He thought he could intimidate her, but it wasn't happening. Selina wasn't about to let it happen. She was sick of him, sick of Leo, as kind as he was to her, and most of all, sick of being a prisoner.

"I've always been brave, but I am tired of your bullshit," Selina said.

Josef took another step forward and pulled the gun from the back waistband of his pants.

"I urge you to remember who has all of the power here, Mrs. Wayne," Josef said.

Selina smiled and laughed. "Oh, come on. If you were going to kill me, why the hell did you keep me around this long? Your mother might not have been such a nice lady, but she was at least good at this. She was a ruthless bitch. You, you're just a boy playing at being a mobster."

Josef reached out and slapped Selina across the face. She had half-expected to get shot, so a slap to the face only stunned her momentarily.

"Get your ass in there and get my Isely's laptop and I'll consider not shooting you in the head," Josef said.

Selina rubber her raw cheek for a minute before she turned on her heel. Sure, he could shoot her in the back, but it didn't quite seem his style.

Her mission was accomplished, though. Josef knew not to underestimate her and he was now thinking about everything that she'd said. That was going to help keep him distracted through this whole process. And being distracted was dangerous.

…

Author's Note: okay, so there's the newest chapter. What did you think? Let me know! I love to hear from you all!

Also, disclaimer: I wanted everyone to know that I am ABSOLUTELY NOT taking any credit for coming up with the Green Desert project. I'm pretty sure I mentioned it in a previous chapter, but I wanted to let everyone know again that it is a REAL thing. I read up on the internet information about the program.

Anyway, please review!


	16. Chapter 16

Happily Ever After

Chapter 16

Selina crept through the dark hallways of the lab building. Everything was incredibly quiet, as it should be. Only the bare minimum of lights were on, also as it should be. The only thing out of the ordinary was that she had one very annoying person tagging along. Josef was too lazy to go with Selina, but he didn't hesitate to send Leo along with her.

Selina hated having someone tagging along, but she willed herself to focus on the task at hand.

It hadn't been hard to figure out that Pamela Isely would be working, even on a business trip to Paris. And that led Selina to run through the usual social media forums and see if the botanist had a page or two that she kept updated. It didn't surprise her that she had a profile on each one of the major sites and kept them all updated with her mundane life.

Doctor Pam definitely tagged herself at the lab building; it was like she wanted to get stalked. But probably never would.

Selina stopped and held up her hand to stop Leo as well. She turned to look at Leo in the dark and she put her finger to her mouth in a 'shh' motion. He nodded and Selina listened into the dimly lit hallway to see if there was anything. Selina was positive that she'd heard something.

"Wait here," she whispered in Leo's ear. There was a corner coming up and she knew she'd have the element of surprise as long as she went alone.

She rounded the corner quietly, but she didn't find anything but another empty hallway. Selina turned back to Leo and motioned him to follow her again.

"How much further do you think we'll have to creep along?" Leo whispered.

"Be quiet," Selina hissed back at him.

"There is no one here," he said back to her.

"Ugh, shut up," Selina groaned. "You should have just stayed back with Josef," she told him. "I could have been in and out by now."

"I know you're annoyed, but trust me Selina, at least you got me instead of Joe," Leo said.

"Josef would be dead by now if I got sent in here with him," Selina said.

"Why haven't you killed _me_ yet?"

Selina stopped and looked at him and something caught her eye behind him in the direction that they had just come from. "Because you need to get away from all this bullshit," Selina told him. "You're better than this. You're better than Josef," she said.

"I'm fairly certain that you aren't supposed to start sympathizing with your kidnapper," Leo said. He searched her eyes and leaned forward, as though he was going to kiss her.

"Well, I wanted to say something nice before I did this," she said, causing him to pause and looked at her with confusion in his eyes.

Leo waited for Selina to do something, to make a movement, but she did not move a muscle. Instead, the blow to the back of his head was completely unexpected. His eyes went wide before he lost his balance and fell forward towards Selina. She stepped back and he crumbled to the floor in a heap.

Despite the shadows of the hallway, Selina knew exactly who Leo's attacker was.

"Bruce," she breathed into the quiet of the hall.

Bruce's face, usually a mask concealing all emotion in situations like this, showed his relief to find his wife alive and unharmed. But his relief quickly turned to anger again. She'd been missing for weeks and he just casually ran into her lurking in a hallway in a lab building?

Bruce closed the distance between the two of them and pulled her to him hard. Selina reached up and kissed her husband, all of the anger, frustration and worry being taken out on one another. Bruce's hands wandered down Selina's body and stopped on her ass. His hands kneaded her rear-end and pressed her closer to him.

Selina reluctantly pulled away from him.

"What?" Bruce said. "We need to get you out of here."

"Leo isn't the only one here with me," Selina said. "There's another lazy one outside. And he's Sofia's son."

"So who's that?" Bruce asked, pointing at the crumbled heap on the floor.

"That's Leo," Selina said.

"Oh," Bruce said. "Who the hell is Leo?"

"You don't remember the guy who attacked me at the masquerade ball a couple weeks ago?" Selina asked.

"I'm sorry; I've been a little concerned with your welfare," Bruce said. "Please excuse me for forgetting the idiot in the mask at a ball," he said sarcastically.

"Leo took good care of me," Selina said as she looked down at the man on the ground. "He was a good guy."

Bruce looked at his wife with confusion in his eyes now.

"I don't care," Bruce growled. "Let's just get out of here."

"Shhh," Selina said to her husband.

There were loud footsteps stomping through the building; coming towards the two of them.

"We need to move him; Josef's coming," Selina said.

Bruce and Selina rushed to haul Leo in to an unlocked room and the husband and wife team quietly tried to make a plan.

"I have to go back out there," Selina said. "Josef will go nuts if I'm not out there and start shooting. I don't know about you, but I don't want to get shot again," Selina whispered.

"I am absolutely not letting you out of my sight ever again," Bruce told her, looking down into her eyes.

"Just trust me," Selina whispered.

Bruce pulled Selina to him in a crushing embrace and his lips found hers in the dark.

"I missed you so much," Bruce breathed.

"I know," Selina replied.

She pulled out of her husband's arms and silently opened the door once more.

Bruce did as she asked and stayed inside the dark room with the unconscious Leo. He waited with bated breath to hear anything that might happen out in the hallway.

He heard a hiss of pain escape from his wife, but he resisted the urge to rush out after her. She'd survived this long; she was going to be okay for a few more minutes.

Bruce waited to hear what Selina told Josef as a lie.

"I don't know where her lab is," Selina said. "I got turned around in the dark."

"Where's Leo?" Josef asked.

"I don't know," Selina said. "He said he was going to be right behind me, but when I turned around to motion for him to follow me, he was gone," Selina lied badly. She knew how lame her lie sounded, and that's what she'd hoped for.

"Bull shit!" he yelled at her. "What happened to Leo?"

He urged her on with the barrel of his gun in her shoulder blade. It was her bad shoulder and a pain shot through her whole arm. Up until this moment, Josef hadn't been terribly violent with her, but now he was angrier than she'd ever seen him. She was still confident, though, and she was still going to kill him when this was all over.

"Get moving, bitch," Josef hissed.

Selina imagined Bruce's face as those words hit his ears.

"Go to the left," he told her.

Sure enough, Josef was right and there was an open doorway with light pouring out of it.

"I think someone beat us here," Selina said as they approached the lab.

Outside of the door, Selina looked at the man holding her at gunpoint. "Do you want me to just run in and grab the laptop?" she asked. "If it's still there?"

"Get in there," he said. "We're both going."

He shoved her along with the gun barrel again and it dug into her bad shoulder. He froze in pain for a minute and he shoved harder.

"Go," he growled.

Selina was first into the brightly lit lab and she looked around. She was overwhelmed at the floral scent that assaulted all of her senses immediately. There were plants everywhere. On every surface. Josef stepped in behind her and also looked around.

Selina hoped that Bruce wasn't far behind them.

"I figured you'd join me here, Josef," a female voice said.

Both Selina and Josef turned to find the origin of the sound and found Doctor Pamela Isely in the corner, dressed in all green and petting a plant.

"I was right, wasn't I, Venemosa?" she asked the plant.

The doctor looked like she was playing dress up. She was in a green leotard and matching green tights. Her dark hair was still frizzy and she still had on the thick-rimmed glasses, it was kind of a sight to see.

Her laptop sat on the table next to the plant that Pam was petting and whispering to. The plant appeared to be purring in delight as she stroked its leaves. It was alive like an animal.

"Give me the goddamned laptop, Pamela," Josef said. He waved the gun in her direction, but she didn't look afraid.

"Come and get it," she said in a low voice.

"Fine," he hissed. He turned to Selina. "Don't you dare move, Mrs. Wayne," he said to her. "Or I'll mail you back to Brucey in pieces."

The doctor's eyes shot to Selina and gave her a once over. Of course she knew who he was talking about; Pamela worked for Wayne Enterprises.

Selina indicated that she wouldn't move and he lunged at Pamela. The table that separated them held the laptop and Josef lunged for it. But Pam was quicker. She held the computer in her hand in a deadly game of keep away.

"I don't have a problem shooting you, either, Doctor," he said. "But I am glad to see you've got a little spunk to you."

Pam held tight to the computer and he knocked the table down that separated them.

"Give me the computer, Doctor Isely," he growled. "It'll be better in the long run."

Instead of reaching for the computer, he reached for Pamela's neck and they both went crashing, kicking and punching to the ground. The computer clattered to the ground in a heap as well.

Pam Isely was covered in the various chemicals that she'd been studying before their arrival. Josef still had his hands around Pam's neck and soon she was lying open mouthed and dead on the floor.

Josef was breathing hard and sat up on his knees to try to catch his breath.

"It was inevitable," he said to Selina.

He reached for the laptop when something wrapped around his neck. For a moment, he thought it was Pam come back to life, but his hands clawed at what was beginning to strangle him. He pulled and pulled, but there was no stopping the plant that had wrapped its leaves around his throat.

Selina didn't want to move. She was staring at him with an expression of horror and confusion.

Josef's eyes began to bulge and he screamed in pain as the plant that Pamela had been talking to latched its mouth-like opening on his neck. Venemosa was beginning to poison him and there was nothing either of them could do to stop it.

Bruce had rushed to the room where the commotion had been. He found Selina staring at the dead Doctor Isley and the dying Josef.

"We need to get out of here," Bruce said, putting his arm around Selina. "Come on."

Selina allowed herself to be pulled out of the room and led out of the building. She was stunned at everything that had happened.

"Alfred's waiting in the car. Let's get you some place to sleep," Bruce said. "Are you hungry?" he asked.

Bruce was talking but Selina could barely hear him.

"Selina?" Bruce asked. "Selina?" he kept saying.

Finally, she was simply overwhelmed by it all. She collapsed in Bruce's arms and he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way to the car.

…

Inside the lab, Venemosa, Pamela's plant continued to inject its poison into Josef. He's turned gray as the poison began to course through his veins. His body finally finished slumping to the floor and Venemosa unwound its vines from around his throat.

It slithered like a snake to its owner and stared down, eyeless, at Pamela. Something was happening, some kind of chemical reaction, and Venemosa could only hope that it was going to make her come alive again.

…

To be continued…


	17. Chapter 17

Happily Ever After

Seventeen

Bruce Wayne had wanted to put his unconscious wife and Alfred back on the jet and fly them all back to Italy. However, Alfred had talked him out of it. He'd pointed out that she'd already been moved once while she was unconscious; they should probably avoid that this time, if they could help it. Bruce didn't want to agree, but he took them all back to the hotel for the night.

Bruce had put Selina on the bed and watched her sleep for a while. Alfred had retreated to his own room to leave Bruce to tend to his wife.

Lucius went back to his own hotel, as well. He was happy to see his friend, and former boss, Bruce Wayne alive and well. And did his heart good to know, that aside from this kidnapping, that he was happy with Selina.

Selina had been out for hours. Bruce periodically had been checking her pulse and breathing and everything was normal. He'd decided that she'd finally fallen into exhaustion from the kidnapping and he sure as hell wasn't going to keep her from the rest she must really need.

Bruce had just broken into the exhibition hall's surveillance system when he heard stirring behind him. He didn't turn around; he needed to delete his presence from the footage and he was going to give her a chance to wake up.

"You know how I feel about being a damsel in distress," Selina said.

"Who said anything about a damsel in distress?" Bruce said, his back still towards her.

Selina studied her husband from her position on the bed. He was hunched and his shoulders were tense.

"Aren't you going to look at me?"

"Did they hurt you?" he finally asked after he turned to look at her. Selina saw the familiar hardness around his eyes.

"No," Selina answered honestly. "They were both too big of idiots to do anything more than simple intimidation. They could learn a few things from you, actually…"

"They somehow managed to kidnap you," Bruce said as he stood and walked toward her on the bed.

"I thought it was you coming back into the house," Selina told him. "I was ready to make fun of you for forgetting something and my guard was down. I didn't even have shoes on, Bruce," Selina told him. "We all have our weaknesses."

Bruce nodded slowly at her; really taking in what she was saying.

"What did you do to Leo?"

Bruce narrowed his eyes. "Why does it matter?"

"Because he was a victim of circumstance. He got involved with Josef and Sofia and their mob because he had no other choice. I can understand that."

"I _really_ don't like that you're defending a man who kept you locked up for two weeks and was going to force you to steal things for them," Bruce told her. He was searching her face, looking for any reason to believe she was kidding, but she wasn't.

"Bruce, I am _not_ defending anyone and I am sure as hell grateful that you're here with me now, but you and I both know that we are products of our pasts. We, well, _you_, chose to use what happened for the positive. You helped people. You helped _me._ I used my past as a reason to destroy other people's lives. How is Leo any different from you or I?"

"Well, let me tell you this. Whatever Leo did, whatever the reason that caused it all, that bastard messed with my family. And _no one_ messes with my family. So, even if he was the god damned President of the United States, I would do what I had to do to get you back," Bruce told her. "Do you understand me?"

His voce had a distinct rasp to it and his eyes were completely dark. Even without the mask and cape, Bruce was intimidating.

"Of course I understand you," Selina said in a soothing tone. "When do we go back home?"

"I just need to refuel the jet and we can go whenever you're good to go," Bruce told her. "Do you want to be checked out by a doctor first?"

"Do you want your head examined? Since when do _you_ suggest a doctor?" Selina asked her husband.

"You seem thinner," Bruce said. "I just want to make sure you're healthy."

"I will go once we're back home," Selina told him. "I just want to take a bath in my own tub with my husband."

Bruce smiled at her. "All right. We can go tomorrow morning."

"How long is the flight?" she asked.

"Just a couple of hours," Bruce said. "We'll be home in no time."

…

The following morning, Bruce awoke to his wife wrapped in around him. He had known how much he missed her, but being back with her, holding her, made him realize just how empty his life would be without her.

"I hate when you stare at me when I'm asleep," Selina mumbled into his shoulder.

"Even if it's to admire your beauty?"

"Cut it out," Selina told him, still not moving.

"God, I love you," Bruce told her back.

"You're turning into a big, mushy sap," Selina told him. "Thank you for coming to find me," her voice turned soft.

"You don't ever have to thank me for that," Bruce said. "It's part of my job. Besides, it was nice to let my brain get a little exercise."

"Yeah, if it didn't include me being kidnapped, I would be all gung-ho about it, too, ya old man. What time is it?"

Bruce turned to his side and read the digital clock. "O-nine-hundred," Bruce told her.

"Can we go home?"

"Sure, honey," Bruce said. "I'll talk to Alfred and and…"

"I'll call the airport and see if they can refuel the jet before we get there," Selina said.

An hour and a half later, Bruce, Alfred and Selina were bundled into the back of a cab, headed towards Charles DeGaulle Airport. Alfred was flipping through the morning edition of the newspaper.

"Oh, dear," he said only a second into reading it.

"What?" Selina asked.

"_An unknown woman_," Alfred began reading out loud, "_broke into the exhibition hall housing the 2013 Green Technology Expo last night. She was dressed like the Biblical Eve, with green clothing and bright red hair. She destroyed several exhibition pieces, including the Green Desert project that was funded by the deceased Bruce Wayne's company, Wayne Enterprises. CEO and contact for Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox, has chosen bot to make a statement at this time."_

"Holy shit," Selina said. "Do you think that's Pamela Isely?"

The three of them squinted at the grainy security camera photograph that was featured with the article.

"Looks like she's got it out for Wayne Enterprises," Alfred said. "Whoever she is."

"I think there might be a club she could join," Bruce muttered.

"Do you think she'll go back to Gotham?" Selina asked her husband.

"Maybe. But she'll have to face Nightwing if she chooses to continue down the path of criminal," Bruce told her.

As they approached the airport, with the skyline of Paris all around them, Selina smiled and leaned into her husband's arms.

"I don't think I want to honeymoon in Paris anymore," Selins said. "Let's just try and have a normal life for a bit."

"We can try," Bruce said. "But that might be kind of difficult for us," he smiled. "But we can try."

THE END

Author's Note: Thanks so much for sticking this out with me! I can't thank my readers enough for all of the kind, encouraging words you've sent me.

I hope everyone liked the ending. I know it wasn't action-packed, but hopefully it was fitting for the two of them.


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